Esthesis
by Joanna The Storyteller
Summary: To long for a touch... to detest void. When faced with those who embrace life, embody it even, how will Naruto's life change?
1. Chapter 1: Akasen

No need for lengthy introductions, stories should speak for themselves.

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Esthesis**

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**Chapter One: Akasen  
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A young, blonde haired boy laid awake in a silent, square room. His red eyes were following the numerous cracks in the apartment walls for the thousandth time, just this night.

God knew how many during his whole.

It was detestable.

The boy took a desperate, panicked intake of breath before falling silent immediately. The sound of his own voice had scared him.

His apartment was on of several hundred identical ones made specifically for shinobi; practical, simple, small windows with reinforced glass, all corners and angles. It was, in essence, a square block of concrete with a bathroom. An ugly, square bathroom, unsurprisingly.

And the boy hated it. From district eighteen, Akasen, laughter and screams came rolling in a sweet symphony to the boys ears. His own district, number seventeen, was just temporary lodging for the poorest of travellers and ninja, effective mazes in times of war. It was a district consisting of forts turned living places.

The kid rolled over to his side in the small rectangular bed, tried to ignore to cheery Akasen. He focused his eyes on the wall three metres away from his bed, wishing for something soft… something coloured.

It was a gray square with just one detail, drawn by himself with a piece of cold charcoal.

Naruto.

The boy whimpered at the sight, threw his body over to face the other wall in an effort to escape the horrible nothingness-

-only to face another wall, though it could just as well been the previous. They were like mirrors of dead material, always the same wherever he looked. Everything in the room had it's edges blurred due to the sparse light – since he had no lamps. It was a smothering, dull silence that filled his lungs with lead.

In the far corners of Naruto's mind, his very being screamed at the horror of repetition.

Of nothingness.

Few knew just how horrible the meaning entangled in the word "nothingness" was, and even less were as intimately familiar with being subjected to it as Naruto was.

Naruto whimpered and shut his eyes tightly. Prayed for his dream... his wish...his something!

A feeling hard to chain to one, measly word.

It was a force reaching from his center, pulling and ripping at every cell in his body... it was a _need._

A terrible, terrible need.

You see, the citizens of Konohagakure, while not hitting him or causing any corporeal damage, avoided him.

They didn't look at him.

Speak to him.

Listen to him.

Acknowledge him… his existence. He was locked out.

And that cold indifference, the sheer_ brutality_ of complete isolation, had caused Naruto to flee from the nothingness they offered him. You wouldn't find him at the plaza, at the training grounds, at the marketplace or the playgrounds. For he was in his concrete complex, his dull, silent, and undoubtedly effectively constructed palace_(prison)_.

When he shopped, it was only the utmost necessaries from the local storekeeper, also in a gray, silent building. When he ate, it was in a dark corner of his room. And when he tried to sleep… he failed to do so.

For as long as his memory could stretch, it had been like that.

Every move he took was made in the slightly downfallen District Seventeen, where everything was made for practicality, everything served a rational purpose. Softness and aesthesis were hardly needed. They lived in a village of ninja, after all.

Sarutobi had given him the apartment before he could remember; the apartment had been the one great constant in his life. A dozen times or so he had spent some of his money on smooth, colorful objects to liven his room up. A pillow and lava lamp had been among his first purchases. That night he had slept well, his eyelids slowly falling down as his eyes took on a purple tone, the deep glowing red of the lamp reflected in his soft blue eyes.

He had smiled then, however small a smile it might have been.

When he woke up, they were gone. No signs of anything, nothing destroyed. Simply gone.

By the twenty-seventh time, he understood, and stopped buying things.

So now, his room only contained a hard bed, and him.

And the silence.

Silence broken only by his struggle against the sweat-drenched sheet covering his naked body.

In the beginning of realization, the struggle had been joined by sobs too. Loud ones, the first times.

The silent tears of mature adults later.

By now, he had stopped crying entirely.

It was his fourth birthday this very night. Most of Konoha was matted with grief and silence because of some horrible event years earlier. For those that sought to drown their sorrows in sake and the pleasures of flesh, however, the red-light district remained as cheerful as always.

Needles ran all over Naruto's body, his mind was screaming and his heart was crying, for he was hollow. Hollow as only a broken child could be.

The room was gray, dull, angular and silent. A heavy blanket.

Everything he detested, avoided, feared and _fucking hated_ so much.

Naruto had a wish, a highly private(_no one _cared) wish. He wanted someone to see him, for even Sarutobi with his kind eyes, didn't see _him._

_(He saw legacy, failure, hope, symbol, a child, a responsibility – not Naruto)_

He was alone in a dull silence and just wanted to scream, cry and laugh.

He wanted to fucking live, he realized with surprise while struggling with the thin sheet_(everything)_.

Besides, it was his birthday, right? He needed a present, right? Hadn't gotten one in years, so he needed to compensate, right?

Only the present of a lifetime would do.

Someone would look at him, and see him.

Even if it would kill him.

The boy stood up, throwing the sheet away – it was too thin anyways – and slid one of his three dirty T-shirts over pale shoulders and weak body. Took a look around his room. Dull gray, heaviness, cramped efficiency, ugliness, emptiness, smothering everything that was him, choked his throat.

Naruto slammed the door to his room open, and ran as if the hounds of hell were after his heels. He continued to run until he reached the district next to his, the one place in Konoha where grief was not carried out in silence, but in life.

He panted heavily despite the short run, a shrill wheezing the only sound emanating from his lungs. Naruto's whole body was covered with sweat and dirt and longing. The small boy waited until he had caught his breath, and then raised his head up.

And gasped.

Naruto saw starry eyes, money flowing from one hand into the next.

Flickering, smooth orange flames against a Prussian-blue evening sky approaching cool black.

Naruto heard laughs, moans, warm songs hummed gently.

Chilled sake being swallowed with relish and content sighs.

Naruto breathed musky scents, saccharine sweetness.

Women, inviting, so colorful and appreciative, smiling and accepting.

Naruto felt the life he had been desperately seeking.

And took a step forward, eyes filled with something akin to awe. The colors screamed at him, the lights screamed at him, the people screamed happily at each other, and the sheer_ motion_ present screamed at him.

The world screamed at him so loudly that even _his_ restless soul, stopped screaming.

And he cried for the first time since long, long ago. It was everything he had imagined… no, it _crushed_ how he had thought the world everyone else shared would be.

It was beautiful.

Art.

The steadily darkening, rich sky, the dirty ground… heck, through his blurred eyes even the pebbles on the ground made his heart feel warm.

"This…" he choked out, and sniveled.

Oh god, how happy he felt.

_(But life is no fairy tale._

_Life is unfortunate._

_And life, is unjust.)_

A laughing man, chummy face tinted red with an alcohol-induced blush moved past the kid, something managing to work it's way to his senses. That dirty blonde hair that sought to defy gravity, that tiny body with a too large T and blue shorts…  
It was_ him_. The man stopped, and stared. Others stopped to see what the man was looking at. And stayed, when they realized what it was. More and more gathered, drawn by the mysterious event that caught so many eyes, like moths to fire.

Or, in this case, wolves to a lamb.

Soon the laughs and joyful screams were several blocks away, and a silent ring had formed around the boy.

"Uhuu… uhuu," Naruto wailed, rubbing his tired eyes with a pale, weak arm. He had a bleary smile on his face, and hiccuped.

He was _happy!_

Then he noticed it.

The silence.

It choked his sobs off as effectively as a garrote around his throat.

Silencesilencesilence.

It screamed at him. Howled at him. Ripped his joy away, gutted his emotions, leaving them to bleed out and soaked up by the uncaring earth.

He had their eyes on him, as he had wished. Only now, he knew that this attention was bad.

Very bad.

The people here had come to forget, to live on, to strive away from their painful pasts.

And in the midst of their struggle, Naruto, the very SYMBOL, the very REASON for all their pain, had arrived. And cried with a happy smile.

_What_ a _fucking_ mockery.

The men and women in the ring went through various emotions. Pain. Anger. Sorrow. Somberness. Hate. Hate. The kind hard to control.

Someone threw a rock. It missed.

But another rock followed, which hit. Then another. Soon screams joined the hail of rocks.

And Naruto, smile long gone, covered. He had stopped crying though, pain being more familiar than joy. Pain was better than the solace even, since he actually felt something. This was his comfort under the one minutes, sixteen seconds that sharp rocks ripped his flesh, words ripped his mind and emotions ripped at his soul. Then a woman clad in ANBU gear arrived in the middle, a few rocks hitting her as she just stood there. By force of her presence alone, the circle of broken humans shattered and fled in the face of her silent protection.

They were grievers, not warriors.

She waited until they were all gone before she turned her face, hidden under the standard animal mask, to the boy on the ground, and sighed forlornly.

"My protection last only for the moment," she said solemnly. The boy didn't respond, wounds not lethal but bleeding still, both the visible and invisible. He had passed out, the strain too much for his weak body and mind to bear.

He looked small, she thought. Small, and lonely.

And the ANBU knew, more so than even the Hokage, just how lonely the boy was. For all her debriefings where she would explain that Naruto, once again, had mostly kept himself inside his room and stared at the roof, could not give the Hokage the sheer **_insight _**that thousands of hours with just observation could give. The woman knew she was unfair, knew of the heavily restricted ability the Hokage had to move through the political waters, but she still felt he paid the boy too little attention.

She did not outrule suicide. Or even worse – madness, as probable future for the child if things continued like this.

The great many red paper lanterns were lit one by one, illuminating he district in the red it was known for.

Even among her companions in the secretive agency known as the ANBU, the woman knew she was seen as calm, indifferent, callous and correct – the picture perfect soldier for everyone that looked. For people like Sarutobi, who looked a bit deeper, she also had a heart. The very reason she had been given this mission... though she had been explicitly told not to interfere in any way with the blonde, save for fending away dangers to his body.

A small smile graced her sharp face.

There was some saying that the best subordinates should take independent steps to further the vision of their leader. Or something like that. And it was certainly in Sarutobi's best interests – both as a leader and an individual – to ensure Naruto's wellbeing. And those thousands of hours of watching had mostly gone into figuring out some way to help the kid, if only a little. Hayate's words to her_, "It isn't right to seal his life off like this",_ had helped her to arrive at one conclusion.

What the boy needed, more than anything else, was life. It was painfully obvious, a civilian would probably have pointed out that fact within seconds. But for someone whose entire profession revolved around snuffing those lights out, it was a difficult concept – or, at the other end of the spectra – a far too easy one.

She was quite powerless, she knew that. She couldn't be seen by him, heard by him, bring stuff, remove stuff, aid him unless he was subjected to corporeal punishment, and were to disappear just as fast as the threat.

He was a mission.

A highly ranked one at that.

But alas, good soldiers knew to take their own steps.

And it was better teach a man where to find the fish instead of fetching them for him.

So she would give the boy a lesson at her expense, the costs be damned. Sarutobi would probably stick up for her if she could prove some valid points, if not...

Well, she had lived a decent life.

* * *

Sha Minami looked at the woman in front of her in disbelief.

"You want me to do… what?" she asked, nervously twirling a black lock between delicate fingers. The ANBU didn't take her mask off, but Minami had no trouble imagining the pleading look underneath. She knew the woman personally after all.

"Minami… if you do this for me, consider everything you owe me void," the purple-haired woman said seriously. Minami stopped twirling her black hair, eyes widening.

"Y-" she paused. She knew she wasn't supposed to know the ANBU's identity. Then again, she had never asked what animal the woman's mask was supposed to portray, so… "Anbu-san, why?"

Such a simple question, but with so many layers. What Minami owed the woman… was her life in freedom. Freedom too chose whatever path she wanted to walk.

And that favor declared gone…? For the pariah? The One Who Don't Exist?

Unlikely.

The ANBU sighed.

"I believe he should be entitled love, at least." The lanterns shook slowly in a breeze, the rhythmic thumping of music blending with the sound of life in general. Neither women paid attention.

Minami just stared at the woman. She had always known that Yuugao was a romantic far down beneath everything she showed the world in general, but to go to such lengths… she was far worse off than she imagined! Yuugao seemed to have read her thoughts; a bitter tone crept into her voice.

"Believe me, Minami… this kid deserves it, this village needs it… for the greater good." Minami hesitated before nodding. She couldn't quite understand her long-time friends' reasoning, but she could bend.

Time had proven that, again and again.

"Okay," the black-haired woman agreed, leaned against the wooden wall. She had relaxed some – she could trust Yuugao. And it was a helluva nice deal for her part… probably more so than Yuugao could comprehend, even if it was _she_ who had stood up for her, had allowed her roam free from her bindings all those years ago.

A melancholy smile got Minami's smooth face to soften even more.

This bond, this guilt, this favour… was the last thing binding her.

And soon it would be gone; for the sake of a child neither knew that well.

How… vexing.

Yuugao shifted, dropping the boy on the wooden tiles before the door.

"Don't teach him jutsu," she ordered suddenly, and Minami raised an eyebrow at the sudden display of authority and haste. Now why would she do that, jutsu was the damnable thing that had gotten her in a bad position in the first place.

Well, her curiosity actually, but who cared.

Yuugao's silence probed at her.

Minami withheld a few seconds longer, then;

"Sheesh! I get it I get it… no techniques…" her deep crimson eyes suddenly pierced the faceless woman outside the house.

Sudden insight.

Yuugao didn't even shift, trained as she was.

"You are putting yourself at risk." A monotone statement, part accusation, part disbelief.

And also an accurate observation.

One that Yuugao saw no need to comment on. Couldn't comment on.

"Take care of him," was all she said before disappearing in a torrent of leaves, momentarily causing her purple hair to whip around in the chakra-infused breeze.

Then the wind died down, and only the small, dirty child was left on her doorstep.

The boy whimpered.

Minami sighed, a frown dragging the corners of her mouth down.

"You better be worth it, kid. Better be worth it."

In the shadows, Yuugao was apprehended.

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Joanna's notes:

Well, this could act as a sort of prologue I suppose... Naruto's childhood will last a few chapters, then the story will pick up speed.

_Glossary:_

Akasen: Red line, or Red light district


	2. Chapter 2: Hetaera

Thanks to Cervani for checking the chap.**

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Esthesis**

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**Chapter Two: Hetaera  
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Waking up… was strange. In a good way, surprisingly. Normally his mornings consisted of a dark room_(that horrible, horrible room)_ lit up by just a square_(why squares, squares everywhere)_ of tired light on his cold floor. He would have a headache and feel tired, ready to spend another day in the concrete apartment.

This… was something entirely new. Not only was the room light, but also it was… it was hard to put a finger on it-

It felt right.

Naruto absentmindedly noted that his clothes were gone, and that the room smelt funny before his clogged mind slammed the past night into his head.

_-tears, the lights, the people, the circle, the stones, sharp, blood, a voice, soft hands-_

Then darkness. What had happened? Why wasn't he at his apartment!?

The boy threw the sheet covering his bare body to the side, his mind unconsciously marveling over the exquisite fabric_(Silk? Satin?)_, stood up on the soft floor rubbed his eyes in a frenzy to be able to see clearly. When all the gravel of sleep was gone, and he saw the room he, for some reason, had slept in...well.

His jaw fell down.

This.

Was not his home_(prison)._

The floor consisted of six simple, but high quality, tatami mats, explaining the soft sensation under his bare feet. The room was lit up by several shoji screens made in dark cherry, the rice paper between the panels glowing a warm orange. Three of the walls were also made of dark cherry, the last wall being nothing more than a large sheet of rice-paper framed with the same material as the rest of the room, portraying a blooming sakura with a mountain chain in the distance. A few cups holding long sticks of slowly burning incense spread an intense fragrance Naruto couldn't give a name to. The bed he had abandoned in his shock was a purer white than anything he had seen, soft as a cloud.

No wonder he had slept well...the room was... warm.

"What… is this…?" he asked no one in particular, dumbfounded. Had he died? Was this heaven?

_Tap… tap… tap._

_"Someone's coming!"_ Naruto realized with sudden fright. The one who had taken him to this room! What were they gonna do to him?

_Tap… tap… tap._

The calm, measured footsteps came closer and closer, each soft tap a thunderous roar in Naruto's panicked mind. He had to hide, but where?! The shoji screens would advertise rather than hide him, the bed was where his captor expected him to be...

_Tap…tap-_

The footsteps stopped. Naruto lost all sense of reasoning, stumbled back into one of the rooms' corners and shrunk into a small ball of blonde hair and fearful, large eyes. He could see the person's silhouette, behind the resin screen. An arm was stretched out, grabbed the far end of the screen… and pulled.

The door slid open with the slightest of sounds.

Naruto hugged his legs even tighter, his heartbeat beating in his ears, eyes furiously trying to determine who his abductor was. Gradually, his eyes adapted to he light.

It was a woman. She held a brick in her hands. She was looking for him. Naruto bit back a scream.

Minami screened the room. The boy wasn't in the bed, where'd he gone of to?_ "Has he escaped already? Yuugao wouldn't like that…"_

Then she heard a desperate snivel, and attentive eyes immediately pinpointed the source. The boy had escaped into the corner of the room, where the lights from the shoji screens didn't quite reach. Large yale blue eyes, covered in shadows, met the clear rosewood-red of the black haired woman.

Neither moved.

Then, the tiny blondes face scrunched up as he bit back a sob.

"I shouldn't gone out… I'm sorry!" he managed to bite out through futile attempts to remain calm. He had seen it in everyone's face that he had done something wrong when he came out, he had seen that he had hurt them. Just by existing.

And now, the woman had taken her away.

Life... was painful.

A thought struck Naruto's head. A thought that blew his doubts way, a thought that cleared his still immature mind from raging confusion. Unknowingly, he voiced it in wonder.

"I should… die."

It was perfectly reasonable. Only when he had nothing, he hurt. When he had nothing, others were happy. If he died, his pain would be gone, if he died, the others would remain happy.

It made perfect sense.

Naruto felt a wave of nausea hit him. His stomach cramped, twisted painfully. It became a battle, his mind felt the sanctuary of death, but his body feared the prison of it. Naruto was certain his mind would win, when arms suddenly nestled themselves around him, carried him into a hot embrace. He hadn't even heard the brick fall to the ground, miso soup, rice and tea dirtying one of the soft tatami mats.

Naruto was even more shocked than he was when waking up in this strange room. Someone touched him – someone _touched _him! – but why!?

"Oh child…" the woman whispered hoarsely. Naruto felt a big lump in his throat, rendering him unable to breath. "You shouldn't die… you are a precious child. Relax," she whispered into his spiky hair. The boy was horribly malnourished; Minami could feel the boys' ribs as she held him without effort. He was a coiled spring, whole posture radiating fear, hope and a dozen other emotions in a maelstrom of confusion. Minami responded by hugging the boy even tighter.

"Relax," she repeated in a soft voice. The boy squirmed a bit, still tense. Minami placed a gentle hand on the boys' cheek and forced his blue eyes to meet her red. Wisps of chakra surged, red was bleached to a sharp sangria, and understanding on a subconscious level flowed into her. Gradually, her eyes returned to their normal color.

Naruto sniveled.

Minami smiled weakly. She understood.

"Its okay to cry." The words he needed to hear. All collected tension bled from his body as he cried, the warmth of the woman's body seeping into his.

_"So warm… so soft…"_ Naruto dimly thought, for once not minding his tears. For the first time in his life, he felt safe. Some careful part of his mind tried to warn him, this was unnatural, but he didn't listen. And soon, that nagging voice died down.

He was safe.

* * *

Yuugao stood, if not proudly then prepared at least, in front of the small judge collected. Her ANBU mask, armor and katana were neatly placed on the desk where Sarutobi sat, eyes focused on her. Standing at his right were Homura and Koharu, both looking serious and grim.

Yuugao masterfully hid her light grin. They had looked like that when she was a mere chuunin and took note of them for the first time, and had probably looked like that from even before that.

Possibly since they were born. She couldn't outrule the possibility.

"Maa, Yuugao," a lazy monotone hit her. "What's the joke?"

Yuugao winced internally. Okay, she wasn't good enough to hide her feelings for _that_ man, apparently. She turned her head towards Kakashi, who was slouching against the sturdy wall of the Hokage's office.

"Just thinking about old proverbs," she tried.

Sarutobi's eyes betrayed an amused glint.

"Oh? And what proverb would that be?"

_"Damn, cant they just let it go?"_ Yuugao cursed her slip, but felt hopeful all the while. Sarutobi wouldn't stray from the matter if it had been a serious one, and her captain wouldn't put her in situations that worsened her odds if she wasn't already pretty safe.

Well, she hoped. Kakashi could be pretty damn cruel when he wanted to be.

"Man does not cease to play because he grows old, he grows old because he ceases to play," she simply said. Sarutobi's face crinkled as he smiled.

"Ah... a truth far too many seems to forget these days," he said wistfully, glancing meaningfully at his old teammates. Their serious frowns didn't move an inch.

"Born with it. Definitely," Kakashi supplied her happily. The other three judges, the old members of team Tobirama looked at him oddly. His eye just turned to a reversed 'U'.

Not for the first time, Yuugao wondered just how good at reading people Kakashi was, even without the sharingan.

"This is a serious matter," Homura spoke gravely, interrupting her musings. "You went too far. After dispersing the threat, you remained by the child's' side, and took him to an unsafe location. I fail to see what demanded this conduct, Anbu."

Several pair of eyes were fixed on her, some curious, some uncaring, some cold. Yuugao had thought hard about what she was going to tell the authoritative figures she had in front of her.

Saying it was because she though Naruto needed contact with other people in order to grow up to a healthy individual was ruled out. While Sarutobi might agree, and Kakashi might side with her, that conduct went against the agreement that had been reached after Naruto was born. Sarutobi could not well violate that agreement, too many forces would be dismayed and the trust he currently held would be frayed. Accepting tat also meant letting her go, which would signal leniency to troublemakers, and weakness to the ninja population and the world in general. It would give others too much leverage against him.

No, the truth was the wrong path. The_ full _truth, that was.

"In felt that it was necessary to keep the boy away from the public, should they try to attack him, and since his apartments location is known to the assailants, I chose to deposit him in a secure location," Yuugao said calmly without pause, her eyes unwavering. No one missed how she her description of the location clashed with Homura_'s_.

"In a… _whore_house?" Koharu clarified with her ever-present frown.

Yuugao nodded.

"In "Hetaera", yes," she agreed with the use of the buildings official name.

Sarutobi coughed.

"I admit that the choice of deposit location is… vexing… care to explain?" he said.

Yuugao nodded once more, trying her best to ignore the light blush creeping over her commander's face as his eyes became dreamily lost.

"One of my old associates-"

"A ninja?" Homura interrupted.

Sarutobi levelled a reproachful glare at the advisor before he nodded to Yuugao to continue.

"A civilian," Yuugao answered negatively, a bit miffed at the interruption. Not that it showed. "She a woman whose integrity I find suitable for the sake of keeping the child safe, temporarily."

No mention of the favor. Those two would sweep down on it as the hawks they were.

Koharu and Homura glanced at each other for less than a hundredth of a second.

For some reason, Yuugao felt a bit trepadition in her gut.

Homura pushed his glasses up, causing them to reflect the electrical light from the roof.

"Anbu. Did you think through the consequences of involving a civilian in this mission… and without the consent of your superiors?" he said gravely.

Yuugao nodded.

"Yes. But, as I said, I have trust in her abilities."

"And that faith is based on… what?"

Yuugao hesitated.

"On my… past experience with her."

"What kind of experience?"

Yuugao could suddenly see with frightening clarity where this was going. But she couldn't very well lie about things that they could check with barely any effort at all.

"She used to be a ninja," she admitted. No one looked surprised.

"Past tense," Koharu observed. "Why is this reliable woman no longer part of our military forces?"

Outwardly, Yuugao was sure no one saw her tension. On the inside, she was cursing. How had they known about Minami's new occupation, and where it was?! For it was obvious they knew from the way they were leading the interrogation.

"She shamed herself, and requested removal," Yuugao responded, bitter memories from her genin days filling her head.

Kakashi eyed her.

"Yuugao, cut the crap. I have somewhere I need to be," he calmly said.

Yuugao looked him into his lone visible eye. Then;

"She stole our teachers scrolls, and ended up killing a civilian." Clear, concise. That left no doubt.

Sarutobi closed his eyes.

"Your arguing for the wise in leaving Naruto there, Yuugao, is sadly lacking," he admitted with a sigh.

Homura and Koharu looked at her intently.

"Just how, anbu, is this a reliable woman. Just what do you know of her grudges? Just what do you know about her surroundings? The containers status, while sad, has been stable. You, by your own head, placed the Yondaime's legacy, the container of the most destructive force on earth, in an unfamiliar environment filled with suspicious characters, in the care of a thief who killed an innoce-"

"Actually, she is reliable," the ANBU captain supplied, interrupting Koharu's tirade.

The old woman slowly turned her narrow eyes towards the captain. Kakashi hinted that he knew her, huh.

"Then what, Hatake, is the woman's name?"

Yuugao looked at her captain with a neutral gaze, anticipating his answer. This could partly save her hide, if her captain knew-

Kakashi smiled.

"Curly Kitten," he said and…

Yuugao blanched.

Her captain, who had saved her life several times, one of her idols… giggled.

Perversely.

Koharu looked downright disgusted with the man. But she didn't let up for that, no.

She was a skilled kunoichi, after all.

"That you have had sex with the woman, Hatake, is hardly proof of her credibility," she said with contempt.

At first, Kakashi didn't respond. But then… something changed. He was still slouched against the wall, but he seemed larger. Serious. Intimidating.

A threat.

"Advisor Koharu, Homura," he said in a cool monotone. "Do you think that I would approach such a woman without knowing anything about her?"

Sarutobi hid a smile. His advisors both knew of the mans extraordinary paranoia, often hid by a mask of sloth. Kakashi, should he seek to take part in the… pleasures of the flesh, would only chose someone that he could place absolute trust in. Meaning extremely few. His advisors both knew this; no one needed to spell anything out.

"No, bu-"

"Advisors. I am an Anbu Captain." Kakashi finished, throwing his rank in as a reminder. "If you cannot trust my word…" he left the rest be unsaid.

Koharu shut her mouth Kakashi was valuable. He was an idol. A goal, and loathe she was to admit it, an ideal. Without absolute evidence, anything they did against him would be seen as an attempt to dirty his image, and it would stir malcontent within their ranks. It would be stupid to risk that over this, in comparison, small event.

"A punishment must still be addressed, for she broke against our decision, and acted independently," Homura reminded all present with a chilly voice. Kakashi smiled, releasing the subtle pressure he had built.

"Aa, true. She should be stripped of her anbu rank, and be made special jounin. A future instructor perhaps, her knowledge of Niten Ichi-ryuu would make her a valuable asset to weapon aspirants…" Kakashi paused. "Being a teacher will teach her responsibility, and now that she has made a mistake, she will reflect, and evolve."

His eye crinkled.

"You two should visit the Hetaera some time. It's a great place, might remove some of your wrinkles."

Homura looked indignant, while Koharu just stared in disbelief. Did he just tell them to…?

"Well, if no one has anything else to add, ja ne!" the captain excused himself with a mock salute, before disappearing.

The Hokage shook his head at the elites behaviour before speaking up.

"Anything else to add? I personally find Hatake-sans decision to be both a sufficient punishment, and a good plan for her future career."

Koharu moved a hand to adjust the pin in her grey hair knot, opting for silence. Homura reluctantly nodded his assent.

"It is."

Sarutobi smiled and made a shooing motion with a left hand covered in lentigines.

"Dismissed, jounin."

Yuugao bowed, and complied.

* * *

Minami had tucked Naruto safely into the tatami bed, the poor child having exhausted pretty much everything one could exhaust.

She grimaced at the thought of how the child had been crying.

No child should cry like that. Ever.

She would tend to him again, later. For now, she had an urgent problem of her own to take care of.

"Well, Minami-chan? Care to explain?"

And that was to convince the other four women working at Hetaera that they should keep the child. Minami looked at them with fondness.

Tomo, the impatient hard-hitter that actually had slapped her lost eyes away, drumming her fingers against the chair she sat in.

Raku, the self-conscious borderline obsessive woman, who ironically showed her how to be at ease with herself.

Kusuri, the silent aid that always listened and gave her advise.

And finally, Tera "Too holy for you" Ka, the blueblood who collected them all and protected them. The one most important to convince.

Minami drew her breath.

"I owe this to Yuugao for giving me an alibi back in my genin days," she answered without hesitation. This was her new family, had been for years. They had no secrets between them.

Tera eyed her critically, picking her kiseru out from one of the great many pockets hidden in her outrageous kimono, and laid it to rest in a loose grip

"Yes… we all know how much you owe this Yuugao…"

Tera slid a finger across the long, expertly crafted pipe, chakra and friction mixed with a tiny bit natural affinity lightening the tobacco.

"But that, is it. It is _your_ debt. Not ours to pay for…"

Tera placed the pipe in her mouth and drew a long, loving breath before exhaling, closing her eyes.

"For you do know the risks…right, Minami-chan?"

Minami huffed.

"When are you going to stop calling me –chan. You are only five years older than me, and I'm twenty. I'm way past the "-chan" age."

Tera snapped her fingers.

"Don't avoid the question. And if you someday, against all odds, mature, we'll see."

"Can we get a move on? Seriously, can't we skip dis whole "Subtle" thingy? It's irritating as hell!" Tomo exclaimed in frustration.

Kutsuri patiently waited for the brunette to finish before agreeing.

"I would… also appreciate haste."

Minami began twirling a black lock between her thumb and her index finger, answering Tera's original question.

"Well… yes, I know of the risks. But we can hide him here, if we work together…"

It wasn't enough, their eyes told her.

"It will set me free…"

Understanding and empathy met her, but they remained silent.

It was five lives they were dealing with, not just one.

"I've already accepted…"

"He is just a child…"

"He deserves it…"

Minami felt cornered. She knew that it was utterly stupid to risk all their lives, their whole family for one child, no matter how just or right it might be. She knew that Hetaera's reputation as the most high-class brothel in Konoha would be endangered as an effect. The most exclusive of the exclusive, refined, talented… and in their midst, the most dangerous entity to ever walk earth.

It would crush them, completely. No one would visit them.

But she had accepted the child. She had held him. And he had cried, and she had soothed his sorrow. And he had looked at her with such an otherworldly relief and longing that it left her at a loss of words.

She couldn't abandon him.

Minami made a decision.

"I will take care of him," she said in a hoarse voice. The others looked at her in surprise. "Away from here, Hetaera wont suffer for me." Minami could feel her eyes tear up, and her throat was exposed to some odd pressure from the inside.

"I… I," she began, but the words couldn't be released. No matter. She knew they had understood. She started to stand up when from nowhere, a fist hit her head. "Agh!" she cried out in the sudden pain.

"You IDIOT!" Tomo yelled in her face, causing Minami to wince even more. Ouch, that woman had a loud voice!

"Honey, sometimes you are quite dumb."

"I… have to… agree."

Tera just looked at the whole spectacle with an indifferent air around her. Minami rubbing her sore head, a flushed Tomo inches away from her face with her fists shaking with anger, Raku berating Minami with a disapproving frown, and Kusuri, coming with some odd additions to the pecking feast.

"Stop." With one word from her, silence was ensued. Moving so smoothly that it almost looked as if she was falling, Tera embraced Minami, placed her head next to her own and looked straight forward. A small cloud of smoke danced from her lips as she spoke.

"Minami-chan, we are family. Family stick together. Especially families such as ours, understand?" she spoke with clear, lazy words.

Minami nodded shakily.

"Y-yeah."

And she didn't cry! She didn't! It was the smoke that got into her eyes!

Everyone said they believed her.

Smiling

* * *

Yuugao stood at training ground nine awaiting Kakashi. It didn't really matter where she waited, she was certain he would find her. She had only picked number nine for how secure it was. It was, quite literary, just around one square mile of hard-packed dirt with no trees within its perimeter. It was practically impossible to hide there, save for under the ground.

"Walking dangerous paths, aren't we?" a faintly amused voice reached her from behind. She hadn't expected anything else, and slowly turned around.

"Hatake taich-" she began greeting, but Kakashi interrupted her.

"None of that, jounin-san," Kakashi chided.

Right. She had been demoted. He was no longer her captain. She glanced at her former superior, and saw what she always saw.

The man was relatively tall at one point eight-one meters, and had the lean body build many saw as the epitome of a ninja. He wore bluish black pants and an armless shirt in the same colour the shirt stretching up over the lover part of his face. Over his chest the flexible, pale, grey ANBU chest armour was securely fastened, and two armguards in supremely light metal were held to his forearms in the same manner. White bandages were wrapped over his right thigh, hiding weapons Yuugao had no idea as of what sort. He had never had to use them on the missions she had participated in. Standard issue black gloves and sandals covered his feet and hands, while a ninjato was strapped to his back. The tattooed black spiral on his left shoulder indicated, for those who couldn't guess from his whole attire, that he was a male ANBU.

Yuugao scoffed.

"Thanks for the demotion, captain."

Kakashi closed his one visible eye, the other being hidden by his black headband, and laughed softly.

"Well, you are my beloved little subordinate after all… to bad your heart is already captured by young Hayate…"

The woman scowled at her former captain. There was no real need to keep her emotions and thoughts under wraps with him, Kakashi would lift those and watch what was hiding underneath anyway.

"Seriously, thanks Kakashi-senpai. If you hadn't… been, with Minami, I would probably have faced prison. Or a visit to TI." Kakashi nodded his acceptance, white scarf hiding the better part of his lower face, neck and shoulders. Yuugao had never learnt just why Kakashi refused to wear the white cloak like all the other captains did, and insisted on transforming it to a scarf. When confronted, he had only said "Do you_ really _want to now?" in his uncaring, cold voice. Not one had proceeded beyond that base. Yuugao suddenly noticed the man was grinning lightly. She could tell, despite the facemask and his scarf. It just took time to see the subtle shifts.

Kakashi was going to drop a bomb, she realized.

And she was right.

"No problem… though I've never met the lass."

The newly instated jounin's eyes widened.

"But you-!"

"Kept my subordinate safe," he filled out with a warm tone.

He was having a time.

"Bu-but how did you know that her hair is curly?!" Yuugao was gripping after straws now.

"She is? Lucky me I guess," the ANBU said happily. Then he leaned forward, placing his hand in a protective motion beside his mouth and added; "But aren't most women curly… down _there."_

Yuugao's cheeks were tinted a light pink. Kakashi got under her skin, rendering all her blockades and defences useless.

Sometimes, she really hated the man.

"´Sides, its not like they would have called me on it, embarrassed as they were."

With a start, Yuugao realized he was right. The advisors had been so flushed that they had abandoned that point and attacked another place, effectively leaving him as the victor – even if he would be proven wrong later. And his sudden exit after the powershow – it was also a manoeuvre, she realized. They had been too busy collecting their thoughts, too confused by his rapid shifts between personalities, power, weakness and tardiness. When he left, he told their subconscious that there was no meaning in continuing the meeting, since everything had already been decided. Their rational minds were influenced, and from his earlier victories and seemingly good solution, they agreed.

On the ridiculously kind terms Kakashi had offered. Heck, her punishment for the point "insubordination" should have crippled her income for months, degraded her, put her on prohibition, been sent to TI for a evaluation… the list was long. As opposed to the terms "reflect on your mistake" and "Become a jounin instructor"

It was an amazing deal.

"I am, an amazing man."

...right. He could practically read your mind.

Kakashi's lone, half lidded eye fixated her, and she knew it was time to pay now.

"Truth. Full version."

It was an order from her ANBU captain.

Could she do anything but to obey with a smile?

* * *

"Love, huh," Kakashi mused after Yuugao had disappeared. A concept he could admit it was a bit had to wrap his head around. Yuugao, he could tell, knew that Naruto needed it on an instinctual level. His agreement had come in the form of reasoning and logic. It had been proven repeatedly that humans needed social interactions to evolve as healthy humans. And while Kakashi personally thought that the level of interaction needed greatly varied between individuals, Naruto's isolation from the human element was more complete than anything he had ever seen before. And while it might have been acceptable if it had been Naruto's own choice, facts remained. Naruto had never had a say in the matter.

Not until Yuugao gave him one atleast.

In the form of the, like its name implied, high-class prostitute circle Hetaera.

He knew about them, though he never had been there. It was run by a former jounin whose keirakukei was crippled beyond salvation during the war. An associate of his, in a strictly work-oriented relationship. She was nearly at his level of workaholic, loyal like few. For reasons known only to herself, she became a prostitute after the war. Speculations about damage to her brain, simple lust, madness and a dozen other possibilities circled around for months after she retired. During the course of years, she collected a total of four kunoichi and united them under the name of Hetaera.

Kakashi sighed.

Hetaera's had been the unofficial name for the kunoichi who infiltrated with their bodies as sacrifice.

Only God knew how many conflicts that had been choked in their cradles thanks to them. But being a hetaera was nothing to be proud of. Many kunoichi had taken suicide missions after a completed hetaera mission. Or skipped that, and killed themselves directly, unable to live with themselves. Very few continued life with the compensations in form of money the village supplied.

Thankfully, the use of hetaera's was nonexistent these days of peace, and under Sarutobi's benevolent rule such practices were all but banned. Officially. They were still taught as an optional course at the ninja academy, though understandably, the prospective kunoichi didn't take that course. Even if they had wanted to, which Kakashi doubted, he didn't believe their parents would allow them. Maybe the traditional clans like Hyuuga might still encourage it but... he was getting of track.

Naruto was in the middle of the prospering Hetaera. There was always motion there. Hetaera was the forbidden fruit of Konoha, and few had the resources to casually get a night there. Those who did were the most rich, and ninjas. The most rich, and ninjas, were two very influential groups. Groups who were dangerous for a container that knew nothing about the world.

"How the hell have they planned to hide him?" Kakashi asked the air with a pained tone. It would be practically impossible, and he couldn't believe that none of the women held a grudge towards the boy. Even in the forces, there were very few that were neutral. Even less who were it honestly.

"Why did I have to get mixed up with this," he asked himself tiredly but not entirely without amusement in his voice.

Well, now that he had involved himself, he might as well go all the way out. And ninjas received discounts, or so he had heard. A time- and rank based discount. The longer the time, the higher the risk, the larger the discounts. Taking into account his rank, the time he had been a ninja and the fact that he knew Tera…

"Perhaps I'll get in for free."

Kakashi giggled.

Time to visit his old friend.

* * *

Joanna's notes:

And so, chapter two is up. The stage is still setting, not all the initial players have been introduced... but oh well. I'll probably wrap the introductions up in a few chaps worth of time.

Also, TI= Torture&Interrogation if ya didn't make that connection.

So long!

Glossary:

Shoji: A freestanding wood frame screen with rice paper, alternately a sliding door that works as a room divider.

Kiseru: That long, thin Japanese smoking pipe you've probably seen in some movie.

Keirakukei: Chakra circulatory system


	3. Chapter 3: Concealment

Thanks again to Cervani for checking the chap.**

* * *

Esthesis**

* * *

**Chapter Three: Concealment  
**

* * *

Naruto shifted nervously.

There was a shark circling around the bed he had slept in.

Having woken up due to the silent sound of silk against tatami mats, Naruto had laid still, eyes closed and breathing rhythmic. Advertising that he had woken up to the entity walking around him seemed highly inadvisable

Naruto's mind had just started creating scary images of just what was circling him in such a deliberate fashion, when she spoke – for it was a she, that much he could extract from the voice.

The one who had hugged him had had a much more pleasant tone.

"Who are you, _boy_?" she asked. Naruto couldn't see her, but she had to be somewhere in front of him, judging by his ears.

Should he answer? Perhaps if he were still, she would go away. Or would she become mad?

Naruto was at conflict with himself. One part of him was crying in happiness at the changes happening at every moment, another just wanted to scream, hide and take cover away from everything new.

Like the shark.

"_Boy_. It is _rude_ not to answer when one is speaking to you."

The voice had an edge in it this time. Apparently, staying still and silent didn't make the world around you still and silent.

"_Boy_!"

"Naruto!" he squeaked.

Silence.

"I… my name. Naruto."

He waited.

Still silence.

Naruto, encouraged by this went one step further.

"No boy, Naruto" he clarified in an anxious voice.

And opened his eyes.

The shark was no shark, it was a tall woman, taller than anyone he had ever met. She had a sharp, angular face with high cheekbones and half-lidded eyes with long, black lashes. Her hair was contained in a thick, long braid that reflected what light the lamps emitted, kept over her shoulder. The woman wore an extravagant kimono that could inspire one to think of mobility, hadn't it been a good three sizes too large and showing too much bosom, the shoulder of the dress resting below her actual shoulder and proudly displaying white flesh. The kimono was white and creased, making it hard to make out the artistic design of a sakura. The woman's lips were painted a dark red, and just as eye-catching as the rest of her appearance, what's with the odd style of clothing, length and all. But what really caught Naruto's attention was how… striking her eyes were. Clear hazel surrounded by smoky jet, the intense focus in her eyes adding to the image…

They were _hypnotizing._

The woman sat down on the bed and made herself comfortable, half sitting, half lying down. Her eyes never let him go.

Unconsciously, Naruto pushed himself a little bit farther away from the woman.

Then she spoke again.

"Tell me… _boy_… why, are you here?" His mad rush of courage gone, Naruto didn't answer. Also, she didn't seem to take note of the fact the he wasn't _boy_, but _Naruto_. Somehow, that didn't surprise him.

One impatient tap from her finger on the wooden edge of the bed propelled Naruto to speaking, this time out of fear.

"I… alone. Hurt. Ran… people, circle… hands… not home," he tried with wide eyes.

The woman stared at him.

Naruto closed his eyes, willing her to be gone.

After about a minute of tense waiting, he slowly tried opening his right eyelid, just a fraction.

"AH!" Her face was right in front of him; he hadn't even heard her move! She parted her lips, sucked some air into her lungs, eyes never leaving his.

'_gonna hurt, she will hurt'_ Naruto's mind raced, and he began to reel back to escape whatever she would do to him-

-only to feel a hot, dry cloud of tobacco smoke envelop his face.

Naruto's eyes teared up, mostly because of the smoke, but also some from shock. He had been prepared for many things, instinctively.

But not that.

In his stupor, Naruto failed to see her next move, where she leaned forward, and flicked his forehead with what looked like a polished stick hard enough to leave a red mark and have Naruto's eyes tear up even more.

"If stay here, boy, you learn speak."

She had dumbed her level down, articulating every word with a corresponding gesture.

Naruto understood the – not as much a question as an order – given.

He hesitated.

'_grey room, dullness, silence, alone'_

He nodded after four seconds, and a pleased, if tired smirk, appeared on the woman's face.

"Okay, boy. You meet blue soon. Eat all."

The woman slid away from his bed in one, sinuous motion, revealing a breakfast like the one The Warm One had dropped on the floor yesterday.

Before leaving the room, the woman turned around with a narrowed gaze.

Naruto froze.

"I Tera-sama. You obey."

Again, it wasn't that much of a question as a command.

And the woman looked dangerous, so he just nodded furiously in response.

The woman smirked, and exited the room with a flourish, seemingly content with how the situation had unfolded.

"Good."

Naruto looked down on the food as soon as he was certain the woman was gone.

Miso. Rice. Tea. Some vegetables. Nothing dangerous… though the vegetables, Naruto decided, looked weird.

And pushed them to the side.

'Eat. All'

…he reluctantly pushed them back into the meal, and ate.

They looked pretty tasty after all.

* * *

A small girl clad in dirty rags, too large for her petite frame stared straight ahead, a collar with broken chain around her neck. She had managed to escape from the slave-traders, but to what avail?

She cast her eyes downwards, matte black hair thick with dirt and twigs.

What was the purpose with everything? Was there any meaning?

The road was cold, and so was the partly demolished wall she was leaning against. Their garbage had held nothing to eat, not that she expected it.

"Hehe.. what an unfortunate child."

The girl looked up in surprise. Someone had addressed her? Was it the slave-traders?

It was a man. One of Kiri's jounin, judging by his attire. The lower part of his face was bandaged, and he had short, spiky hair with the headband strapped across the head with the knot holding the headband together resting at the right side of his head, the end straps of navy-blue cloth hanging down casually.

So they had even hired a jounin? They had probably realised her worth after they saw the traces of shattered metal, oozing of cold.

The man bent down, an enormous sword on his back scraping the ground.

"A brat like you isn't wanted by anyone," he said with spite in his voice.

The small girl looked at him in wonder.

"Yes, they do," she retorted in a clear voice.

A chilly wind blew through the deserted streets, litter being forced to move by the rough winds.

The man looked at her intently, taking in her apperance.

"A child of the purgings then," the man snorted with disgust. "You will die with neither freedom nor dreams."

The girl felt pain in her heart as the man addressed a truth she knew far too well. But the spite and disgust in his voice... didn't seem directed to her. She captured his cold, hardened eyes.

They looked… haunted. Lost. Bitter.

"You have… the same eyes as me," she concluded while closing her eyes and smiling weakly.

She wasn't alone. Even if just for a passing moment.

The jounin's dark-brown eyes widened.

They sat like that for a few minutes, the imposing man staring at the girl who just continued to smile.

When he finally spoke, it was with a gruff voice.

"What's your name kid?"

The small girl's smile turned a bit more honest.

"Haku." _(White, unspoiled, innocent)_

"Will you follow me?"

Haku's smile stayed on as she nodded.

"Yes!"

As Haku was lifted up, being too weak to walk by herself, she looked at the man carrying her with hopeful, hazel eyes.

Perhaps... it had finally arrived.

A purpose.

* * *

As soon as Tera had exited the room ,she was greeted by an urgent call from somewhere near the entrance of the building.

"Tera!"

She whipped her body around to face to the source of the sound, a flash an anxiety entering her eyes.

That had been Tomo. For as long as she had known her, Tomo had never been surprised. Not for real.

Moving quickly in their spacious home and workplace combined, a thin razor slid into her head from one of the many hidden folds in her kimono. While certainly separated from the proud flames of her jounin days by unsurpassable distances, Tera had adapted.

She was no pushover, and whatever idiot had forced their way into _her _home, they wouldn't stand a chan-

"Tera, long time no see," an awfully cheery voice met her from behind. Twirling around and sending the razor off flying, she prepared herself for whatever assailant that had triggered Tomo's warning in one direction, and then managed to get to the opposite side of the house. A two-man job? Skill?

Hopefully the former.

Either way, she had sent the razor with near perfect accuracy, the person-

…there was no one in the hallway. Just her razor vibrating in the wall seven metres away.

"Now, is that the way to treat a former compeer?"

Oh, she knew that voice…

"Kakashi…" Tera said with an annoyed hiss. "What do you want here? And what did you do to Tomo?"

The ANBU shook his head ruefully, his spiky, whitish grey hair moving in unison with his head.

"Maa, still putting work before friends… family, Tera-san?"

Tera cooled down expertly as his tone clearly questioned the order that she had posed the questions.

"There has never been anything else. I live for Konoha."

Kakashi hummed in agreement before answering.

"I didn't expect anything else… and as for the girl, she's okay."

Tera didn't respond to his jibe, opting for coolly looking at him.

"Your purpose, Hatake," she said, repeating the first question. In her mind, Tera was planning potential excuses for having the boy there. Minami had asked her? Yuugao? The boy had stumbled in, and the others wanted to nurse him? Since for what reason but the boy could have the infamous ANBU captain himself come down to them?

"I want to know how you have been planning to hide him," Kakashi inquired lazily while placing his back against the wall, obviously at ease with the threat the former jounin all but radiated.

"Do you have to complicate matters, Hatake?" she said with a voice filled with frost. "Be clear!"

Tera felt anger seeping into her usual calm. With him having posed the question that could mean a number of things. She could either say "We haven't planned to hide him," but it wasn't impossible that he already knew that they had planned that. Lying against your superiors was a grave crime. But he could also just be baiting her to admit it, resulting in a visit to Morino Ibiki for questioning about her motives, purpose and so on.

Either way, she was in deep water. If only Kakashi had posed the question differently, she might have been able to get away with the least damage possible… but alas, Kakashi was neither dumb, nor kind, whatever exterior he might show.

She had seen his true nature, moonlight and unseen winds causing old wheat to ripple as he dashed, ripped and murdered dozens of ninja, sharingan spinning madly, cold sword drenched in hot blood.

Tera shook her head, reminding herself that this was just a false exterior, for she had seen the true Kakashi.

And knew he was a man to be feared.

"Answer, Ka."

Tera flinched. He addressed her with her last name, meaning it was business now.

Her already sharp, aristocratic features became twisted and animalistic a second, neither the French braid, nor the fine clothing and makeup betraying her true nature.

That of a savage killer, loyal beyond words, to the point of mania.

"We haven't gotten that far yet. He can't speak properly due to the isolation. Is scared of everything moving. Loses control over his emotions when touched. Doesn't want to move from the bed he is sleeping in."

Her frosty glare had returned.

"How we are to keep him hidden is the least of our worries… and you want to take him back to his apartment? For idiotic reasons as "shielding" him from the anger of the public, keeping him under tabs for our enemies, minimizing risks… Do _not_. Mock me, Hatake."

Tera stood on eyelevel with Kakashi, whole posture screaming defiance and murder at him.

Kakashi didn't even blink.

"You still have your pride, I see." A small tugging on the corner of his hidden lip.

She had passed.

"While we know it is true you have him here, and we believe you intend to keep him for some time, we do not now for how long."

Tera's posture faltered slightly. What was he doing?

"Currently, the only ones entirely against this situation are the advisors out of those who know of his current location. Sarutobi, while not pleased, sees it as acceptable as long as I judge you trustworthy."

"What are you saying Hatake?"

Disciplined and to the point, as always.

Kakashi stood up from his slouched position, hands in the nearly-black pants he wore.

"Well, you may keep him, as long as the public wont learn he is here. Sarutobi plans to inform the clan-heads, and convince them with me as further argument."

He paused.

"If this slips out, the entire civilian population, and a majority of the military will become outraged. It will be a breach of the agreement reached when he was born," he warned.

Tera nodded.

"I underst-"

"No, you don't," Kakashi interrupted her.

A little miffed, Tera remained silent, awaiting his explanation.

"I believe in your capabilities. I believe you can keep this under wraps;" he began before raising his index finger. "_But_, do know that if this matter becomes known, it isn't the Hokage, the advisors, the council, me or even Yuugao who will fall. _You_ will."

Tera froze with the implications. She had only thought so far that it would damage Hetaera's reputation. But of course, it wouldn't stop at that. Someone had to be punished for releasing the container into the civilian populations midst, endangering them all. And it wouldn't be any higher ups, that was for sure. They were more important. They had an image they needed to preserve. An image they had to preserve for the village to function.

A bunch of prostitutes, no matter how high class, no matter what background, were great scapegoats.

If the knowledge of Naruto got out…_ they_ would be tried in martial court, and executed most likely.

Someone had to be hit, and hit hard for everyone to be happy.

Tera shouldered the responsibility with cold dread in her stomach, pain in her temples.

"I understand."

"Tera!"

Kakashi smiled at her.

"Glad we understand each other. Now I would like to see Naruto, for the report to the Sandaime. You should check the girl."

The two brushed past each other, one leisurely walking, the other with pained, hurried steps.

* * *

Tera was at the entrance mere seconds later, the spacious room where they met with the potential customers to determine who they were, did they have the character, and most importantly; did they have they cash.

Tomo was still yelling.

"I'm telling you, you have to wait for Ka-sama! I don't know if you know each other since way back, wait, or scram!" the hotheaded Tomo all but screamed at the customer.

Tera felt the weight of trepidation lift from her shoulder; it was just an irritating customer. As she slid open one of the wall-sized shoji, she came to face with the flustered brunette and a slightly balding man in approximately his sixties, with silken robes signalling his wealth.

"Can I help you?" she coolly asked the man. He began fumbling over his words.

"Well, ahm, you see, do you remember, ahm, when-"

"Enough," Tera said with obvious tiredness. She had had enough suspense built up inside to flood everything and anyone that irritated her.

That included men way over they prime who tried to lie their way into discounts.

"Hah!" Tomo exclaimed in spite, her white teeth flashing in a vicious smirk, celadon eyes glowing with triumph. "I knew it! Get away from here scum!"

Tera was far too tired to lecture Tomo on proper behaviour, a lesson the girl never seemed to take to her heart anyways.

The man shuffled his feet and began backing out, bowing and apologizing all the while.

"I-I am sorry, please, forgive me… I walk past here every day, so I just wanted to check what all the ruckus was about, s-sorry."

Then the man was gone, his back hid behind one of their wooden pillars outside.

"Hah! I knew something was up!" Tomo repeated, ecstatic with the joy over being right. Her easy-to-please nature was, as usual, impressive.

Though Tera had a hard time feeling that joy.

'Check the ruckus?'

There had been no ruckus.

'I walk by here every day'

She had never seen him before

Tera felt her stability creak in the edges, and her migraine worsened.

The Sandaime and Kakashi?

The advisors?

Danzo?

An unknown party?

Whoever it might be, one thing was for sure.

Someone… would be watching.

* * *

Naruto looked up from his meal, still sitting in the large, comfortable bed. He had all but finished, only some dried seaweed left on the plate when the shoji opened.

Hurriedly throwing the seaweed, grimacing as he did so, into his mouth, he prepared for either The Warm One or the other one… tira-sma or something.

Instead of either of those, however, he was greeted by the sight of a…weird man. The only patches of skin visible were on the arms, and around his right eye. The rest was covered in grey, metallic things, really dark blue clothes, a scarf and a headband worn in some odd fashion over his left eye.

He raised a hand in casual greeting.

"Hi Naruto, I'm here on Sarutobi's request."

Naruto shied away a tiny bit, blue eyes uncertain. How come he knew his name?

'Wasn't he supposed to know Sarutobi?' Kakashi mentally wondered.

"The hokage," he clarified after a moment of afterthought.

"…Jiji?" the blonde child asked doubtfully. The old man hadn't visited him for weeks, too busy with leading the village.

Kakashi smiled.

"Yeah, jiji. He wants to know if you're okay."

Naruto, while not understanding everything the jounin said, got the gist of it, and tried to answer to his best ability. "…Scary. Different… But better!" Naruto said, his voice at first a hoarse whisper that then grew in magnitude to assure him that he _had_ it better here. "No silent… no empty." His eyes teared up as he felt how inadequate his ability to convey his feelings and thoughts was. The man with the pale gray heir didn't seem to mind.

"That's good to hear Naruto, cause you will be staying here for a while. This is your new home."

Naruto's eyes widened.

"Home?"

"Yeah, home," the ANBU readily agreed. "Now, someone is coming, and I'm not that much of a people person, so see you later Naruto," the man said and waved his hand in goodbye.

Naruto hesitantly nodded, eyes widening even to saucers as the strange man seemed to…shimmer, and disappear, just as the third guest this morning opened the shoji screen.

Honestly, it was making him horribly nervous. Having only met one person at random intervals for four years, and then have four in the space of two days made him jittery and edgy.

"…Naruto."

The sun had climbed a little higher since he had woken up, and there were apparently no walls outside the painted resin door, for light filtered in en masse, causing the figure slowly approaching him to be shrouded in darkness.

As soon as she got closer, however, he realised who she was.

"…Blue…"

And indeed, she was blue. Or at least her clothes were. Walking in slowly, as if each step was to be treasured, the woman's clothes billowed as if by an unseen wind. Then she, still moving with that sublime grace…fell.

And rose again, dusting her dress off with calm, thoughtful movements. The material shivered at the briefest touch, making it an extraordinary light material. Over the whole dress a pattern of dark-blue roses made its presence known in various shade of blue, melting in with the azure of the dress.

"…Yes," the woman agreed after finishing the last grain of imaginary dust.

Naruto didn't really know what he was supposed to say, so he just looked at her. She was softer than the woman with the pipe, but not quite as soft as The Warm One. Her face held neither arrogance nor sadness, warmth or the casual laziness the weird man had expressed, no.

She seemed… blank.

The woman moved an arm slowly from her side until it was stretched straight out.

It was a pale, uncalloused and a bit thin arm, he noted. Not as thin as his, but it held a certain fragile quality to it he couldn't quite explain, even if he had had the words for it.

She pointed at it.

"…Arm."

Naruto got the idea, even though he already knew that word.

"Arm," he repeated. Somehow, this girl didn't seem as scary as the others.

Cyan eyes locked with his. She moved her finger and pointed at her chest.

"Ei… Kusuri."

The finger moved to point at him.

"..Naruto," he answered with just a tiny pause of hesitation.

The finger didn't move.

"Uzumaki," he added.

The finger didn't go away.

Oddly enough, he wasn't that disturbed by the finger, or the woman behind it…

"Uzumaki Naruto."

The finger moved away, towards her chest again.

"…I."

…perhaps it was because she reminded him…

The finger moved to him.

"I," he repeated.

…of his previous life.

* * *

That night, four of the five members of Hetaera sat in their private small onsen – even that a luxury in the hot fire country – situated in the middle of the compound. Kusuri, though she never said anything about it, always kept away from the bath for her own reasons. She was most likely with Naruto, even still.

"Will she really be able to teach him? Wouldn't I be a better alternative?" Minami asked worriedly, her voluptuous figure hidden by the steam rising from the hot pool.

Tomo agreed. "Yeah. Minami's like a mother, she'd do good!"

"I am not like a mother!" Minami denied in shock.

"Yes you are, dear," Raku disagreed with a light grin. "You have the body, you have the voice and you have the feelings, no matter how hard you try to deny it."

The woman chuckled, moving a finger across her bare, toned stomach. "You've always wanted a child…"

Minami scowled, her cheeks burning red.

"You know that I cant-"

"Oh, but an adop-"

"Silence." Tera's voice, as always, cut through their bickering. Her makeup was gone, but her hazel eyes still kept their freakish intensity.

"Kusuri is what he needs," she began, referring to the original matter. "The boy needs gradual changes. Kusuri is the only one he can associate with his old life. She has patience, and is the least sought after among us. Minami-chan, you would worry too much over what you should do. Like a mother." Minami looked a little betrayed. "But," Tera added, "This is also for Kusuri's sake."

Everyone was attentive. They all knew each other's problems.

And thus realized Tera was right.

The matter was settled without further ado, so Tera introduced the next, most obvious issue.

"This will be a remedy for both of them… but that matter aside, we need to hide him." She looked at the three women. "How?"

A cicada, soon joined by others began its crescendo.

Raku was the first one to speak.

"We cannot _hide_ the boy, that is impossible, I tell you. We need to _disguise_ him."

Tomo looked at her oddly.

"You know that _everyone_ knows how he looks? Even if we _frickin_ shave him bald and dip his whole body in_ ink_, people'll know who he is. We can't change his height or his eyes, and people'll realize he aint in his apartment!"

"I got the impression Naruto rarely, if ever, left the house though," Minami added. "Perhaps it will work."

Tera snorted.

"Girl, even if you only reached chuunin, get a grip. Not only is there a routine check-up on the boy done by the anbu assigned to him, other keep tabs on him for their own reasons… people want to know what the brat is doing. They hire ninja, money under the table. Everyone wants money."

Tera's mood darkened. "Currently, it is safe to say that the upper echelons of the military knows that he is here. And an unknown party. There is no telling when, but people will notice that the brat isn't in his little prison, but out in the open. Somewhere." Tera sunk deeper down in the water, her French braid dissolved to a huge, roiling mass of inky hair. "People will get paranoid… even more so than usually. They will seek changes in routine everywhere. We can't give them any hint that he is here. It will kill us."

Tera said nothing after that, her bad mood failing to be alleviated by the hot water.

She was sure none of the girls realised the enormous complexity in the issue. If it came out, they had acted on their own. All the blame would be theirs. Theirs as a group, too.

'Damn Sarutobi… sacrificing all five of us just so the brat will have a chance at normal interactions…"

The Sandaime was either dumb, which she firmly refused to believe, or he was so swamped with guilt that he was willing to risk five innocents for the sake of one boy. But risking five innocent for one… wasn't the Sandaime's style, no. One for one, Twenty for twenty. Equality was his game, one that had led to several countries grudging acceptance. The man was fair, no matter how stupid it was in the world they lived in.

No. Five for one was not enough. There had to be something more behind it all…

Tera had been so distracted by her musings that she didn't notice the woman on the edge of the hot spring until she heard the rustle of clothes.

Exquisite azure fabric fell down on the ground, and a long naked leg slowly stepped out of the pile, closely followed by the other. Then, the pale body of Kusuri slid down in the water, grimacing more because of old buried memories rather than the hot water.

"Kusuri?" Tera said in a clear tone, honest surprise in her voice.

The former kunoichi nodded.

"Yes."

Raku took a few steps in the pool before reaching the young woman. With tender hands, she removed the two hairpins in Kusuri's hair, allowing the reddish-brown hair to drape her shoulders in straight bangs.

She didn't respond to the touch, even as Raku placed a kiss on her forehead and moved back to where she had sat.

Minami and Tomo just looked, a mix of sadness and pride in their eyes.

"You speak about… Naruto."

"…Yes," Minami answered. Normally, Tera would be the one to take the initiative, but she was too busy studying Kusuri's face thoughtfully. "Naruto." With a sudden start, she realised that, besides, her, only Kusuri had called Naruto by his name. The others had gone for kid, brat, boy.

Somehow, the though saddened her greatly.

"We can't let the kid get found out," Tomo supplied, her clear eyes vibrant with life. A stark contrast to Kusuri's, who's more often than not seemed to be hidden behind a curtain of other worlds.

Kusuri carefully looked at Tomo.

"…Jutsu."

Minami shook her head.

"Yuugao wanted him to have normal life. We can't teach him jutsu. And besides, he's too young, and far too behind in understanding. It would kill him to attempt a simple kawarimi."

"A_… normal_ life?" Tera asked in disbelief, referring to Yuugao's request. This was news.

The woman hesitated. "Well… Yuugao is a bit of a romantic… but she means well."

Raku snorted.

"Darling, Yuugao sounds far too naïve to be an anbu. Normal life? He can't even _dream_ about that."

Minami took offence on behalf of her old saviour.

"Hey! It might not be realistic, I know that! But that doesn't mean we should give it up!"

"Minami…" Tomo suddenly said, sounding bitter. "The kid wont have a normal life unless he either get strong enough to disencourage everyone from going after him, or getting a protector of the same strength. None of us has that strength. Not even close." Tomo continued in a pained, subdued tone. "You don't… get anywhere without strength…"

Once more, they all turned silent. Naruto, however unknowingly, had already brought so much pain into their lives.

Pain that had lain hidden by the protection of routine was slowly unravelled, inch by inch.

"Hime… no gensou… no jutsu," Kusuri insisted. A few eyebrows were raised, it was hardly ever Kusuri pushed for something. Added to the fact that most had never heard of it before, and that they wanted to get out from the dark mood, they all focused on Kusuri.

"What's that?" Tomo quickly asked, celadon eyes regaining a bit of the light that had been lost, eager to bury her memories once more.

'Such a strong girl…' Tera admired Tomo silently, before answering her question before Kusuri could.

With her talking speed, it would have taken ages.

"Hime no gensou is Tsunade-hime's – " Kusuri perked up, attentive as always when she heard the name of the legendary medic " – ultimate achievement in genjutsu." Raku especially took notice now, and listened hard. Minami was just surprised that the woman, Tsunade had sought such things. She had always seen the medic as a hardworking, serious and sombre worker in the ways of healing.

With hands that could break rocks, but still.

"It is the most perfect optical illusion I have ever seen… Hime no gensou. If I hadn't already been told that there was an illusion, and the fact that she looked impossibly young, I wouldn't even have suspected a thing…" Tera sighed. "But we are getting of track. Jutsu are ou-"

"No…" Kusuri disagreed. "I know… the base structure…"

Everyone was silent.

"_What?_" Tera hissed in surprise. She knew, of course, that the girl had aspired to become the second Tsunade – a feat damn near impossible – but actually having even one piece of the horribly complex illusion… it was impressive. Thousands had sought to crack the secret, and some new techniques had sprung from those failed attempts.

But ultimately, had all been impostors.

"We can… apply the basic matrix… weak, but…enough." Kusuri argued.

"Whoa there Kusuri-chan," Raku said with a frown. "We will apply the matrix? None us are adept with genjutsu, we would probably harm him or ourselves rather than succeeding."

Tera nodded her agreement, already putting the revelation of Kusuri's knowledge behind her, as it was useless.

"Yes. Genjutsu is considered one of the most complex arts of the ninja. Sorry Kusuri, but-"

"It isn't a genjutsu."

No pause.

"…what?"

"It… is a seal."

Kusuri's eyes swept over the four females.

There was a vague flicker of passion in her usually cloudy, cyan eyes.

"And I… can draw it. You… give the chakra."

Tera glanced around at the women in the bath. Interest, worry, uncertainty…

"If I believe you… just how safe is this process. Will it be detrimental to the boy?"

If they hurt the boy… Sarutobi would be beyond furious. There wouldn't even be any trials. Hetaera would be gone before they even knew what hit them.

"No… it wont be chained to his… keirakukei… the matrix will feed… of us," Kusuri answered negatively.

Minami threw a worried look at Tera.

"How much chakra will it take… and how will Naruto change?"

"Much… don't know exact amounts… change, not too much. A bit length… hair colour… skin texture… ears and nose… small changes."

Tera frowned thoughtfully.

"I don't know Kusuri… Are you sure?"

The pale woman nodded.

"Please."

"Oh my…" Tera sighed. "I guess it is our best option for now… I trust you now, Kusuri."

Kusuri inclined her head in thanks.

A shadow dislodged itself from one of the compounds trees, unnoticed by the troubled members of Hetaera.

* * *

Sarutobi looked at Kakashi with an expression of disbelief wide open in his aged face.

"She claims to know the base array for the Hime no gensou!?" Kakashi inclined his head.

"Yes. She showed nothing but faith in her own abilities."

Sarutobi frowned.

"Who was this girl again?"

"Ei Kusuri, twenty-three."

Sarutobi searched his memory.

"A kunoichi from the war then… what was her last recorded mission?"

Kakashi answered readily, having already anticipated the third's questions.

"Information retrieval in Tsuchi no kuni, targeting one of their nobles. Mission ended in failure, as the noble saw through the drugs she was slipping him. According to the report, she was discovered and forced to stay submerged long enough for permanent brain-damage to be ensued. She then killed the noble violently after managing to get out of the water. She met with our forces, reported failure, and was then transported here to receive medial treatment. Not long after that, Ka Tera approached her to join Hetaera, and she accepted."

"A true hetaera then…" Sarutobi said, concerned. "I remember her now. She revered Tsunade as a god, studied and learnt everything she could about her. She even came to my office to ask me about her, and that takes a lot of courage… her chakra control was on the bad side, though, so she focused on herbs, anatomy, surgery without chakra and some sealing…"

Sarutobi's eyes clouded over.

"Do you think it is possible that she has the base?" Kakashi casually asked his leader.

The wizened man tipped his hat so it shadowed his eyes.

"…yes. And I owe them some leniency, putting them in the fire. It would be a shame to loose them, they have done much good for the survivors of the war. Helped them in ways neither medic nor psychiatrist could do. By offering their warmth, their understanding…"

Sarutobi sighed heavily.

"Dismissed, Kakashi. Keep the boy under constant watch, you may chose freely among your subordinates to aid you."

Kakashi bowed to the man, and left. As soon as Kakashi had closed the door behind him, Sarutobi sunk back in his chair.

'So much trouble everywhere… So much to take care of.'

Sarutobi raised his hand in front of him, eyes glowing with wisdom and power, knowledge vaster than ever.

But for all that power, authority and knowledge…

His hand trembled. Just a little.

He was… getting old.

Old.

The word had never really held any meaning for him, not until recently at least.

When Minato died, he had been left to take care of treaties, alliances, waning forces, war, reconstruction and the fucking _Kyuubi_ mess on top of all that. None he was prepared for.

Experienced, yes. Ready for the robes?

Hardly.

And Naruto had been the greatest victim of the whole mess. As if the Kyuubi hadn't been enough, their village was hurting from the conflict with Iwa, Kusa was dismayed that the fighting had taken place in their country, Kiri began its purges, Ame locked itself away, Danzo plotted…

It was too much.

He couldn't take care of it all at the same time.

Naruto was the greatest victim of the whole mess. Only with the most major clans support, they had managed to at least partially save the child.

Absolute isolation. Eternal isolation.

Partially saved, surely, but also partially condemned.

Danzo had been against it, several of the clan-heads and high-ranking ninja too.

But the pressure was far too large.

So he had no choice but to allow Naruto to shoulder the injustices of a whole country.

His hand trembled.

Hetaera was a gamble he was willing to take, even if it would take five brilliant, sad lives.

Sarutobi looked over his village, cheerfully illuminated from the streets below, protected by enormous forests, and wrapped in a soft embrace by the waning evening light.

Sarutobi Hiruzen's hand trembled.

Just a little.

* * *

The brush… flowed.

Elegance.

Simple, but those lines had so much potential… so much beauty.

At first, she had learnt it because Tsunade had – and Tsunade was perfect.

Period.

Then – she had found herself fascinated by the possibilities.

It was love by the time she cracked the base-array in Tsunade's horribly complex anti-aging illusion, and she understood how it worked.

Kusuri had fully believed that, give her a few years, she would crack it completely. She would show it to Tsunade, who would be so impressed that she would take her as her apprentice.

Well, she had believed it until she was pinned under water for several long minutes, only managing to stay alive by driving one of her pins into the nobles eye, killing him.

After that, she got… slower.

Yeah. Slower. When speaking, reacting, thinking… slower.

At every single thing… except this.

The brush flowed.

She had spent years memorizing, drawing, thinking and planning this array before the "accident."

If something were going to steal that away from here, it sure as hell wouldn't be some measly water.

Tera looked on in slight wonder. She had never seen Kusuri move with so much purpose and determination in her body.

Tera turned her eyes toward the seal and snorted.

'Basic? That is _not_ basic.'

The seal extended for a good twenty-five square metres from the centre of Naruto's body, inky lines, kanji, shapes and patterns she had no idea what they symbolized, in a harmonic structure.

Naruto laid perfectly still, even though she had thought the boy would have been squirming.

Had it been any but Minami and Kusuri who talked him over, he probably would have. Even so, the two of them had calmed the boy in just about two minutes.

* * *

_Naruto's eyes jumped from person to person, his mind working up a scream._

_There were five people._

_Five people!_

_Close to him!_

_"Naruto…kun. I will… draw… on you. Please be still," Kusuri had said. Naruto's eyes had focused on her, searched her deeply._

_Minami added her own two cents._

_"Please, Naruto-kun… it is so they wont take you away."_

_Tera had just stared at him while Raku and Tomo whispered about how thin he was, how it was possible that he could contain… that, and so on._

_Kusuri agreed._

_"So they wont take you away."_

_Naruto still seemed uncertain._

_"…will it hurt?"_

_"…It will feel… bad," the blue-clothed woman admitted. "Sorry."_

_"Please Naruto-kun… it is for your sake," Minami pleaded._

_Kusuri and Minami both told him to do it, and Naruto's paranoia screamed. Was this what they had been waiting for?! Had they plotted this all the time!?_

_"If you want to stay… You have to do this, Naruto-kun."_

_They were pushing him._

_But was it over a cliff, or away from an avalanche?_

_His body felt itchy, and he had a headache that kept getting worse. But he had decided, that eternity that was four days ago, that he would give himself the ultimate birthday present ever._

_He had thrown himself away from the safety and silence that drew him insane, into the pain of living. Then he had been saved._

_He had won that gamble. Even if it was new, strange, and often unpleasant, it was._

_As opposed to before._

_So he would go all out on this chance._

_On his present._

_"Okay," he had accepted with fierce blue eyes._

_

* * *

_

"Raku-san, Minami-san, Tomo-san, "Kusuri urged in a calm voice. The three women nodded before, a bit insecure in their movements, placing their hands on three respective parts of the seal. Kusuri had said something about it being a "Chakra transient seal of the external oblation type", but they had managed to dumb it down to "A seal you need to push some chakra into, freely, once in a while.

They weren't really interested in the details.

After checking that their hands were safely placed on the inked surfaces, Kusuri raised her hands and formed a seal before breathing out in a benign, almost loving tone.

_"…Fuuin_."

The three women immediately felt the effects. It came as a tugging, gently prodding at their palms and enticing a tickling sensation.

A bit unpleasant, actually.

Tomo winced.

"Hey, I-"

"Accept," Kusuri ordered.

Wow. She ordered them.

The experience was so unreal that the tri of women let do just that, the prodding feeling being exchanged for something better likened to having endless threads drawn through your body, though without the pain.

Tomo's eyes teared up.

"It tickles like hell!" she whispered, trying to hold her snort of desperate laughter away. Neither Minami or Raku agreed, but attributed the fact that some people were ticklish, other were not.

* * *

Five minutes had gone by. Raku had begun sweating and panting, and Minami had gained a thin sheen of moisture on her face. Only Tomo showed no visible signs of tiredness.

Naruto had, amazingly enough managed to stay still through the entire process.

But even he could tire.

"…Kusuri…?"

To woman shook her head, and Naruto resigned himself.

* * *

Eleven minutes had passed.

Raku had gone out first, weakly stumbling away from the room to throw up outside. She didn't return.

Minami had stayed for two more minutes until her whole body shook, her eyes glazed over and she fell. Tera had carried her away, placing her in one of he beds in the compound.

Kusuri had silently taken Minami's place, giving what little she had. Tera just stood by and watched, serious concern shadowing her hazel eyes.

Tomo was about at the same level Raku had been when she gave up, when the edges of the seal glowed up a brilliant red and began racing to the center of it; Naruto.

Tomo fell over with a pained yet relieved gasp, clutching her stomach. Kusuri had the decency to speak before fainting.

"Fuuin…complete."

Tera immediately rushed to the two former chuunin's sides, checking pulse and vitals. They were okay.

Tera cursed her inability to create any substantial amount of chakra for the first time for years.

'It will take much chakra'. Hah. Understatement of the year. Two low to middle chuunin, one genin and one upper chuunin level of chakra capacity had it taken to sate the seal. The _basic_ seal.

Tera hoped that seal would hold for a damn long time, or else they would never be able to keep it up.

"You can get up, boy. The sealing is completed. Naruto slowly sat up, and stared at his hands.

Oh god, how pale they were.

Tera nodded appreciatively to the changes. They were enough.

"There's a mirror in the room to the right," she supplied him. Naruto looked at her warily. Then to Kusuri and Tomo.

He winced.

"I… hurt them."

Tera gave a short, bitter laugh.

"Yes, you did. All four of them physically, me mentally. You better not let us down."

Naruto didn't quite know how he was supposed to let them down; it wasn't as if he had a mission or purpose or something. _They_ had taken him there, if any were to blame, it was them. Even so, he bopped his head up and down enthusiastically to show that he had understood.

"Go."

Apparently, she didn't want him there.

Naruto left.

* * *

It only took a minute at most to find the bathroom, but he was suitably shocked when he saw his reflection. Sure, he had never had a mirror, but he had seen himself in windows and such. He knew he was thin, blue-eyed, pale and had blonde, spiky hair.

Somehow, that had changed.

His body had filled out to the body of a normal kid, he had gained a few centimetres, his eyes seemed more narrowed and his hair had seemingly decided that it had had enough of defying gravity, and instead fell down. His skin, while pale before, now seemed more white than the translucent that showed his veins from before, and his face was devoid of the six scratches he called birthmarks.

He wasn't Naruto.

He was…

A new start.

* * *

Joanna's notes:

Introducing the small Haku, a very much female little thing... just because I prefer her to be a she.

...So sue me!

Glossary:

Hime no gensou: Princess's illusion.


	4. Chapter 4: To Err Is Human

Cred to Cervani for checking the chap.

**_

* * *

Esthesis_**

**

* * *

**

**Chapter Four: Misunderstanding.**

**

* * *

**

One year had passed, and Naruto had turned five.

Five.

Pretty good number, right?

Naruto thought so, at least. Even, smooth… a quantity easy to count with-

…_Five_!

Though that Naruto liked the number didn't have as much to do with math as it had to do with the unique meaning it held for him. To him it was a _milestone..._ or rather a monument. A monument over one year that had been filled with more things he could retell in words. A year of learning. A year of improving…

A year, of _living._

A fucking enormity when you thought about it.

Living.

Six hours a day had been spent with Kusuri, learning how to speak. Some hours went to interacting with Tomo, the young woman insisting on playing games with him – a process that had been slow and painful for both, often resulting in him crying.

Minami… well, Minami just was. She hugged him, spoke to him, looked at him, and listened to him – listened real carefully. And not just because she was slow due some mental handicap like Kusuri, but because she was interested in what he had to say.

A turn-the-world-upside-down concept.

As for Tera, she mostly nagged/picked/corrected everything he did. How he ate, how he sat, how he walked, how he dressed… even _why_ he dressed like he did. She was a stern, and often frightening woman – but he could handle it… like it, even. For what she taught him, no one had bothered telling him before. Never had anyone actually told him how the world was supposed to work, and the rules that guided it, before now.

Raku… well, she kept her distance. She was polite and so, but preferred him out of her sight. They mostly avoided each other, and stayed content. Neither was willing to sacrifice the lives they were currently living.

Naruto smiled for himself.

He still hadn't discovered a meaning to his life.

He still hadn't found a purpose.

He still considered his life to be an existence that no one gained anything from… but, ah, well…he had begun enjoying it.

…Couldn't he be just a little selfish?

Naruto had reached his goal without noticing, and stopped outside the lavender door. He knocked three times so that the inhibitor knew she had a visitor. Tera had been very strict on that – privacy. She had told him some things about why the privacy was needed… things about men and women he couldn't quite understand yet.

For now though, it was enough that he knew what he was supposed to do, how he was supposed to act.

"Kusuri onee-san?" he called out probingly, as he didn't hear any of the sounds that equalled 'Privacy' with a capital p. Those sounds were the most telling evidence that he should absolutely _not_ enter. He had learnt that early on after a few embarrassing accidents that got him yelled at when he was noticed.

"…Come in," a muffled voice reached through the door.

Naruto opened it, and entered a room around fifty square-metres large. His eyes shifted, gobbled the surroundings up as fast as possible – a habit he couldn't quite control, that need to know where he was and what was going on around him. To his left there were a dozen or so shelves where numerous plants and flowers growing in ceramic pots were kept. All blue, of course. The bed in the room was simple yet of good quality, much like the bed in the guestroom he had initially used. Above the bed, nine photos were framed and securely nailed to the wall. An enormous bookshelf filled with literature on anatomy, medical chakra, Tsunade, and other subjects made up the last detail of the pleasant-smelling room. The most eye-catching object in the room, and also the only thing having no semblance to blue whatsoever, was a large oak-desk imported from Ame, filled with Kusuri's private scrolls. The woman was scribbling in one of them in slow, deliberate movements as Naruto stepped in.

"Naruto-kun," she greeted him. Her hand didn't stop writing.

Naruto smiled a small smile at her petite back, covered in a large azure robe with sparrows stitched into. She always wore blue.

"I am ready for today's lesson," he greeted her back. It had taken him four months and around three weeks before he moved away from the guestroom on his own violation. But when he had managed that, he had been instructed to begin the day at five a.m every morning in Kusuri's room. The first weeks after that had been horrible, nerve-wracking and downright detestable. But she let him in every time after he knocked She hadn't locked him out.

So he learnt to come willingly.

Kusuri didn't stop her scribbling, but it grew slower.

"Today… is a special day," she admitted to him. Naruto's mood sunk a bit. She didn't mean his birthday, he knew that, and didn't expect anything. What saddened him was that it was "special day" as in "busy day". A popular day to visit his home, where he was exempt from his studies due to the increased workload. The special days mostly arrived on the same dates as festivals and celebrations held throughout the year, he had noticed.

Those days, the "Do _not _enter" sounds became near constant.

Except in the mornings. Those were silent.

"I'll be in my room then."

Kusuri turned her head around, her cyan eyes searching for his blue. He had caught her several times studying his eyes – she liked the color, he supposed.

"Go to… Tera-sama," Kusuri advised, still looking him in the eyes.

Naruto nodded in surprise. Kusuri rarely gave orders after all. And that suggestion was an order, he could tell.

"…Thank you for your time, Onee-san," he excused himself and broke eye contact apologetically. Somehow, he felt that she wanted – needed just _his _shade of blue. The five-year old nearly blushed as he exited the room and its flowery scent.

'Is it really okay to be this selfish?" The blush didn't go away. He stopped that thought right there, killed it in its cradle and tried to focus on something else. Like the smell of the numerous sakura, the clear sky or the tiles he was walking on.

Yeah. Wooden tiles. That would do.

Walking on them incited pleasant sensation. Nearly as pleasant as it had been to bath in the onsen, or to drench himself in any kind of water actually. Soaking was simply wonderful.

Naruto allowed his thoughts to roll away aimlessly, relishing in the pleasantness induced by his memories.

Bliss.

He took a shower at least once a day.

Feeling was wonderful after all… and water was full of sensations.

He continued walking.

The path to Tera's room was a simple, curved path around the fifteen – or so – rooms that made up their compound. Six personal rooms, one storage, six guestrooms, one stupidly luxurious kitchen and one shared room, everything built in a modest square with their onsen in the middle, along with some plants and sakura.

The leader of Hetaera had a room the same size as everyone else, but the interior seemed larger due to its horribly spartan layout. One bed. One desk. One drawer. Fin.

Naruto knocked on the door four times.

"Tira-sama, Kusuri onee-san sent me," he called out.

Tira. The name had stuck, despite Tera's harsh attempts to change it. The best deal she had managed was that he could only call her that when no one else was around.

"I was expecting you. Enter." Tera's voice was all do and don't argue - as always.

Naruto stepped inside – and frowned.

Tera was sitting in seiza, staring at him. That was no good sign. Last time she had was after he had walked in on her with a man early on.

He sat down quickly, mirroring her position. Tera was a lover of tradition, and trying to appease the one in power couldn't hurt, right? Even if he didn't know in what way he had faulted this time.

"It is your birthday," she stated.

Naruto shifted.

"…Yes?"

"What do you wish for?"

She asked what he wanted? Tera?

Naruto thought about the question, scoured his mind for what _he wanted_.

"I don't… wish for anything."

As soon as he had said it, Naruto knew it was true. He wished for nothing.

Tera quirked a delicate brow. The kiseru was stuck between her large red lips, elegance and lust combined into one sinful combination.

"…Nothing?" The tone was mocking. She shifted to a more comfortable position, sitting cross-legged. Naruto didn't dare copy her. The master could and would, the servant couldn't and shouldn't – another of her many rules.

"No, nothing," Naruto agreed, relieved that he had found the answer.

Tera didn't seem to believe him.

"Friends… money… respect… fear… clothes… Konoha… position… dreams… food… prestige?" Tera counted up with her fingers until all were occupied.

He could only shake his head at each new proposition.

Disdain crept into Tera's eyes as she lowered her hands.

"You wish for nothing? You have no dreams?" Her voice filled with more and more contempt by each syllable. "Just _why_ do you live, boy," she sneered.

"I don't know. No reason." He didn't have spite, anger, joy or anything else in his voice. Maybe a bit worry, but that was all.

Despite her frightening gaze, Naruto had given an honest answer. He had only gotten partly used to how each and every conversation with the woman turned into an interrogation where he was the one at fault, but knew better than to try and fool her with what he might think she wanted.

Tera stared at him without passion.

"So you say you might as well be dead…?"

Tera let the question hang in the air. She was sure he would answer negatively that, no, I am-

"Yes."

Tera's eyes widened.

That detachment… that unfeeling 'it has nothing to do with me' attitude… Was this boy for real?

"What about Kusuri? What about Minami? What about this _village_?!" White, hot bars of steel entered Tera's voice.

Naruto, while disconcerted and afraid, shrugged.

"I… like them a lot. I don't care much about this village, but… I just don't think my life matters."

'Doesn't matter?! Doesn't he have any idea of his importance?!'

Tera's outrage was only cooled by the avalanche of the truth she saw reflected in his yale-blue eyes.

He had no interest in life. None at all. It might be enjoyable at times, sure. But more often than not painful. My life holds no meaning. That was what she read in his cool eyes.

Oh god, how horrible. Was this the product of their isolation plan?

For once, she understood why Sarutobi were taking the risks he were.

'If this kid grew up as he is now, with no attachment to life nor his home…"

It would be a disaster.

For the sake of the leaf-village, she would have to make sure he learned to care for life. But how, how…

"Then," she began, "You will receive nothing from me."

Naruto inclined his head.

"But!" Naruto raised his head at the furious, cold tone. "If you haven't developed a will to live by the time you turn six… By the gods,_ I _will give it to you."

Naruto flinched.

"Leave."

The boy hurriedly stood up and bowed before scurrying away.

Tera quickly cooled down. She had forgotten that she was supposed to relay a message.

"Hurry up, go to Minami for her present. And don't forget what I said boy!" she called after him. Though it didn't seem as if he had heard, given how hard he was running.

'Oh well. His loss.'

* * *

Naruto _had_ heard what she said, but only stopped after he was in front of the room Minami lived in, panting at the effort he had given the sprint. Sanctuary.

'Still so easily scared,' he glumly thought before calling out, voice heavy with the burden of the rush.

"Minami okaa-san?"

The door opened, and he was immediately swept into an embrace. Just like he knew it would. Sanctuary-

"Naruto," she welcomed him with lips painted in a furious red matching her eyes. Her smile was warm, as was her body and tone. She was a warm person. His warmth.

"…Let me go," he grumbled into her black hair. Seriously, she had hugged him at the very least once a day since he got to Hetaera. He couldn't honestly say he disliked it though…

Minami let him down, smiling still.

"Today is a busy day, Naruto," she, much like Kusuri, said with a small amount of disdain.

Naruto shrugged, and smiled.

"I understand."

Minami smiled back at him before reaching into one of her sleeves, pulling out a leather string with a metal brick on it.

"Happy birthday, Naruto," she said warmly. Naruto could only stand still as she placed the necklace around his neck, and tied it together with one expertly crafted knot. Engraved on the brick was the kanji for "love".

"Since I will always love you, Naruto. Never forget that," she told him with eyes overflowing with emotion.

Naruto was didn't know what to say, so her just hugged her. Hard.

Minami hugged him back. He was just a child… how could anyone see anything but that. All child's should to be treasured.

Definitely.

"You are safe here, Naruto," she gently told him. His head made some motion – an attempt to nod rendered futile by her impressive bosom. She leaned down and kissed his head.

"I have to go now. I have much to do."

Neither made any attempt to move.

Minami sighed with a small smile.

"Go to Tomo. She has something for you too, I heard."

"…kay," the child mumbled.

It took a good ten minutes more before either managed to leave.

Needs and needs are different things, after all.

* * *

Danzo, didn't drum his fingers – this was one of several well-known facts in his side division of ANBU, root.

Danzo drummed his fingers.

Slowly.

Consequently.

_Thuck, thuck, thuck, thuck._

His two aides watched him nervously.

_Thuck, thuck, thuck, thuck._

Danzo's visible eye was impassive, face set in a permanent scowl rivalling that of Koharu and Homura – perhaps even surpassing theirs. It was hard to tell. Such was the power of Danzo, war veteran, former candidate to Hokage and mastermind behind a thousand things most never noticed.

When the Nidaime in a split-second decision chose Hiruzen, and after he had calmed down, Danzo had rationalized that Sarutobi couldn't do everything – despite his godlike skill – and above most, Danzo wanted Konoha to prosper. So he would take care of the things too small for his new lord to take care of. He had built his whole life around a careful control of anything and everything, inside and outside the boundaries of their country.

_Thuck, thuck, thuck, thuck._

Danzo drummed his fingers. This was a horrible problem, each and every step could either prove the shield that protected the leaf, or the sword shredding it to pieces.

The idiotic and wasteful absolute isolation plan had failed due to an ANBU much too emotional for her own good. Had he been the Hokage, Danzo was sure it wouldn't have happened. Just look at his Ne soldiers. They were near perfect.

That matter aside, the boy no longer had his controllable, if wasteful, status. And Sarutobi had decided to leave an _extremely _vital piece in the care of some _whores._

Danzo had never, not even for a second though that his old teammate would lose his perception. For every move he had taken, every life Sarutobi had extinguished, there had always been a plan. Few could see them. Even fewer wanted to believe it. There were only a precious few who knew the real Sarutobi.

Danzo prided himself on being able to see his kindness and charisma for what it was. Tools to lead a country.

And Sarutobi had okay'd the jinchuuriki's replacement to Hetaera. He had only one agent there. One that wouldn't be able to handle the interaction needed to gain the boys trust, one who was more likely to harm to boy.

This was a precious chance to influence the path of their whole village.

_Thuck, thuck, thuck-_

The drumming stopped. Danzo turned his head to the blond standing at the far end of the sparsely lit room.

"Fū, have Sai begin extracurricular lessons in socializing. You will supervise him."

Fū bowed before exiting the room.

While the Yamanaka had no idea what his leader had in mind, it wasn't in his position to question him.

Danzo would lead them to victory.

Doubtlessly.

* * *

"Hey brat!"

Naruto tried to duck under the wet projectile of cloth, but failed.

The bath towel hit him in his head, causing a loud smack to echo in the vicinity of the onsen.

Tomo laughed merrily.

"Gotto work on yer reflexes kid, everything's about reflexes!" She waved at him in a come hither gesture. "Join me."

Naruto slipped out of his casual black pants and two-sizes too large t-shirt with a spiral insignia without much effort, before sliding down in the warm water.

Tomo looked at him fondly.

"Yer birthday huh?"

Naruto nodded, taking a few, unsteady steps in the pool before ending up next to the brunette. Tomo, much like him, loved to bath. She did it every morning and every evening, every day, every time of the year. If she had the time, a third bath a day wasn't uncommon. It was she who had introduced him to water, despite his panicked protests. At first absolute refusal, actually.

Well, he had given in... eventually. Being thrown into the hot pool a dozen times or so made one appreciate the option to chose on your own.

So rather than going against the stream, he had flowed with it.

And found that he enjoyed the ride.

Naruto and Tomo rested in the water, neither wanting to break the comfortable silence. But both knew that the day would soon rush headlong into work.

"You know, at first I didn't want you here," Tomo admitted.

Naruto tensed up, the old paranoia and panic trying to stir itself up, despite a year of reassurances and warmth.

"But… sometimes, it is good to break routine. To get a move on, y'know?"

Naruto didn't know.

A rueful smile lit Tomo's face as she twisted her lithe body to face him, locking her celadon eyes on him.

"But change, though painful, is necessary. And Naruto, you won't survive out _there_."

There. Everything else. A very large word.

"We wont always protect ya. It's a burden on us."

Naruto felt his heart constrict.

He was a burden. Some way or another, he had wanted to believe that they just… cared for him. Deep down though, he knew that being selfish meant making life harder for others.

Balance. The weight shifts, and so does the world.

"Though that's jus' proof of how much we care for you kid. Nothing worth having comes without a price, y'see…"

Tomo had lost her usual spirited aura and energy. She had grown solemn.

"If you want t'live, ya'll need to become strong."

Tomo put a lightly tanned hand on his head from the side and ruffled his slightly wet hair. Naruto shifted at the touch as pearls of water flowed along the blonde strands of hair. Tome looked at their small, protected garden, still with her hand in his hair.

"Do you know why I am here at Hetaera, Naruto?"

Naruto shook his head.

Tomo took a deep breath. The hand on his head pulled a little, gripped his hair.

She was acting weird.

"Tomo-chan…?"

The woman let go of his hair with a small sigh.

"Lets just say… that I was pretty awesome in the last war. I killed and slaughtered, I was strong. Sure, not subtle or discreet as the others, but an asset." Her voice was pained. "I led three genins in a simple search-and-destroy mission. Just my type. Find the storage, burn it down. No threat-level." She paused. "It was a trap. I was separated from the genin, and was brought to their interrogator."

Naruto listened closely.

"As I said, I wasn't very subtle. Go there, hit that, was the kind of orders I liked. I was a bit o' a blabber too, so Konoha di'nt entrust me with information. I had nothing they wanted, and was released after a week into the woods." Tomo's voice grew even more pained, now scarcely a whisper. "They thought me an important lesson, Naruto. Being in power… is everything." Tomo didn't say anymore, even though there was more to tell. A story about being refused to search for her genins, trying to defy authority, getting jailed, getting beaten, getting interrogated by her own forces…

No, she hoped that her tone alone was enough to convey her lesson. While a few simple sentences was unfathomable miles away from the raw understanding she had acquired with that pain, she still hoped that some of the message was carried across.

Glancing at the serious, naked child beside her, she thought it had. A bit of her rueful smile returned as she noticed his eyes.

They were concerned and worried.

'How sweet…'

"Hah…." She breathed out. "The rush'll begin in an hour or so. I need to prepare, Naruto. You take your time."

Naruto nodded absentmindedly. His mind was preoccupied with what she had told him.

Strong huh. He could tell from the way she moved, the way she spoke, how important this was for her.

How painful it was.

Though he might not understand fully, Naruto chose to treasure those words, remember them.

It was a gift after all.

* * *

Shikaku looked at his dazed son, who had fallen asleep in a tree after successfully managing to escape his wife's chores.

"You know, if you are going to sleep, do it more discreetly," he advised Shikamaru.

The boy grumbled something unintelligible.

"SHIKAMARU!" a shrill voice reached the males from across the forest. "GET OUT OF THAT TREE AND BACK HERE NOW!"

Said boy glared at his scarred father.

"And if you are going hint to her where I am, do it more discreetly," he rebuked with a sour look.

"SHI-KA-MARU! COME! AND YOU TOO SHIKAKU!"

"…"

"Troublesome," they echoed in unison before obediently starting on the path back to their house in silence. Neither was that much of speakers after all. And women were scary. Especially Yoshino.

Shikaku glanced at his son, marvelling over the fact that this amazing being was just that.

His son.

Shikaku was a man full of pride over him, despite the boy never doing anything but lazing around and trying to escape responsibility. Far worse than even_ he_ had been at Shikamaru's age. He felt pride...

'Since where others run away because of the extra workload, Shikamaru runs away, knowing he will one day have take it.'

Shikaku liked to view himself as a perceptive man. He could see how, even at his age, Shikamaru nullified conflicts between his age mates without the other kids realizing it. It was a word here, a suggestion there. A rude comment that caused the other kids ire to be directed at him, unifying them… even if it meant him facing them alone.

A leader had to be able to lead, to control and show direction. Shikamaru showed all those qualities abundantly. The only thing he lacked was the charisma – spirit. And the social network of companionship and trust that was bred through proper interactions with the kids his age.

That was the one thing that had Shikaku worried. His son was distancing themselves from the other kids.

…There was a long way back to the house, through the forest.

He might as well have some horrible father-to-son talk.

"Hey, Shika," Shikaku began suddenly.

Shikamaru immediately got a foreboding feeling and tried to analyse his father's words, timing, intonation and tone.

A casual, friendly tone, a tone that told you that he wanted to say something important, but it wasn't anything dangerous. That combined with his nickname, the fact that they were quite a bit away from their home…

It was the buddy to buddy tone.

Oh. A talk.

'Like hell!'

Shikamaru ran. He had had a lot of practice.

Unfortunately, having a father that was a jounin and a user of a technique that controlled movement, Shikamaru didn't get that far away from his father before he found himself walking next to said parent with exactly mirrored posture.

Shikamaru resigned himself. No use in exerting energy over hopeless stuff. He would have to take... the talk, whatever it was about.

His father coughed.

"Why aren't you with any friends?"

'Tch. So that was the subject.'

The question seemed innocent enough, a concerned parent with no ill intents. Shikamaru knew better. His father would manipulate any thoughtless words into a snare that would be strangle any attempt he made to defy his parents authority. He couldn't lie either. His father always spotted them. He had to kill this subject with honest and direct answers as fast as possible.

"'cause they are stupid," he drawled.

Shikaku nodded, carefully not looking at his son.

"I see… why do you think that?"

A stupid question, judging by Shikamaru's face.

"Where to begin? They fight over stupid stuff, they get angry easily, scream and run around, make no sense, lie and talk behind their "friends" backs… is that enough?"

His father hummed.

"But that's how kids usually are. You have to get used to it, bond with them. They'll grow up one day, and then these memories will be what knit you together."

"Reaaaally?"

Oh, it was worse than Shikaku had thought. There was some heavy sarcasm there.

"Yes." Shikaku cleared his voice. Damn, this kinds of talks weren't his thing! "You need to interact with your surroundings on a constant basis to evolve. You will never go far without these bonds."

Shikamaru opted for a silent disagreement. He felt perfectly fine on his own, away from those simple no sense kids. If anything, they would idiotify him. And yes, he just made that word up. He wasn't a genius for nothing.

Shikaku thought how to approach the issue a different way. He couldn't take that silence for an answer.

"…You only think like that since you never have had a real close friend-"

"I have Chouji," came the fast reply.

Shikaku sighed.

"Shika… don't try with me. Sure you and him hang out regularly… but that was also a tactic, right?"

"…No…"

Shikaku laughed, a rough sound.

"You suck at lying Shika. You went to him 'cause the others banded together against him, and diverted their anger to yourself. You got an heir indebted to you, pleased both our families, stopped a quarrel, got an excuse for situations like this. It was a great move, right?"

"…"

Shikamaru stayed silent, and Shikaku frowned.

This was not going well. For all his intelligence, ability and logic, the kid would never grow if he remained as detached as he was. No one would ever truly follow him if he was as cold and distant as he was presently. Shikaku himself had had Shikamaru's issues, though to a far lesser extent as a kid. But where he had had the divine luck of someone falling for him, and his own father pushing him into the Ino-Shika-Cho formation, Shikamaru wasn't him. It wouldn't work. He had to force his son to experience a true friend so that he would seek friendship on his own.

"Shikamaru."

The brunette tensed, trying to predict what was going to come next. No longer a buddy tone, this was more like a superior. An order then, perhaps disguised as a suggestion. Almost definitely about the whole "friend issue".

"You will have to get to know an orphan your age, and find out his likes, dreams, hopes and frights. If you don't, your mother will discuss this with you instead of me. And believe me, I am FAR more lenient."

That was an order.

"SHIKA!"

…That was also an order.

They both sped up.

* * *

Hetaera bathed in moonlight, cicadas chirping their song at seemingly random intervals all over the compound. Kusuri had finally managed to get some free time, having been busy the larger part of both day and early night. Moans and gasps resounded from inside the rooms, and she knew that she was supposed to be in one of them, right this moment.

But there was something more important to do first.

She entered Naruto's room. It held no personal objects, and looked exactly like it had a year ago.

A bit sad actually.

"…Nee-san?"

Ah. So he still had a hard time trying to sleep. After the initial heavy sleep of relief, his body and mind had kicked back into gear, making him an extremely light sleeper. When he slept at all.

"How have your… day been… Naruto?" She wondered softly, sitting down on the edge of his bed.

Naruto rolled over to face her.

"Great." He smiled. "Shouldn't you be with the guests?"

An acute observation – she should. But they could wait; she had a gift to give.

"Naruto, you know we are all… tired… from giving our chakra… to your… seal," she said. She had to waste as little time as possible, she needed to approach the subject directly.

"Mm," Naruto hummed his answer. Minami could hide it as well as she liked with makeup and love, but she was tired. As was the rest. They never had the time to fully recuperate after each time. Raku was the one suffering the most from it due to her having small reserves.

It was a bad thing to do, live on their sacrifice. On their life.

'Selfish…'

But else he wouldn't be able to stay.

Selfish.

"I have… improved on the seal. So it will drain a bit of your… chakra. It took some time, but… I think we will all feel… better."

Heh. "Some" time. She had spent every thinking moment trying to follow Tsunade's train of thought, she had written countless scrolls about theories and potential successes. It had taken a year. And she was only a bit above halfway in the finalizing of the seal Tsunade had created in months. One year, built upon ten from her youth, and she wasn't even finished.

Tsunade was amazing.

Kusuri produced a brush and bottle of ink.

"You don't want to…burden…us? I will give you that… as a present." It was the best she could give him, and it would benefit everyone. It was a great gift, and she had just managed to put the finishing touches to it this morning.

'_If you want to'_ hang as a question in the air.

Naruto didn't really think that hard about it. Even if it had been something that he didn't like, he would accept it. Since it was from Kusuri.

"Mm," sounded his agreement. Kusuri tugged away the soft sheet, warmed by Naruto's body, and tapped on the complex design resting a bit above his navel, channeling chakra to the invisible seal.

"Gyaku fuuin no jutsu," she whispered. The seal she had drawn a bit less than one year ago spilled out from the spot she touched, crawling back to its original form while illuminating the dark room with a subdued light.

Kusuri dipped the brush thoughtfully before she began.

Each stroke was a fluid beauty.

Each stroke was determined and loving.

Each stroke was Kusuri.

The new seal had been drawn directly to Naruto's body. Three-hundred-sixty-one kanji, evenly placed over his young form.

"Fuuin," she finalized it with a tender, slightly excited whisper as she touched the seal. It churned and twisted before crawling up on Naruto, its inky lines covering about half of his naked body before disappearing.

Naruto shuddered. He could feel it. Small bits of… something being gently tugged out from all over his body.

"It feels weird," he declared.

Kusuri tilted her head and smiled.

"Happy birthday, Naruto."

Naruto smiled as Kusuri stood up and left the room. Neither noticed the white mask and the body behind it in the corner of the room.

Now it was time for her customers.

* * *

Something dark twisted.

"Hoh…? Now what is this?"

Light filtered in between bars of density surpassing that of normal matter.

Teeth widened, eyes gleamed.

The light slowly hardened into hair-thin blue lines, like hot glass.

At first, it was surprised. Astounded, even, at the audacity. The foolishness.

"…HAH!"

It would hurt like a bitch, but it would be well worth it.

Tendrils of pulsating carnelian stretched out to the many still hardening lines, into them, filling them up and expanding them.

Exploding in them.

Thousands of green threads suddenly appeared from the walls of the room, winding themselves around the glass-like ember pipes, cooling and constricting them. Soon, it had all intermingled and hardened. There was nothing more to do now.

A sharp, inhumanly deep hiss of pain echoed in the dark, though it was soon turned into a rumbling laughter.

"Ah, but truly, it _is_ his birthday, no?"

Black lines swarmed up from foul water over the pulsating pipes, covering residue green and red in ink.

"A present… is in order."

* * *

'I won't be a nuisance anymore,' Naruto thought relieved. As it was, he judged the value of his existence by the amount of happiness he brought to the others in Hetaera. And, occasionally, the weird man in gray with one eye.

Naruto had just begun drifting into easy sleep, when a jolt suddenly shook him wide awake.

"Ouch…" he said irritably.

Another jolt followed. Naruto began to get out from the bed – he had to visit Kusuri or Minami to check what was wrong, why he was in pain – when instead of small jolts, the pain turned to burning threads of molten agony. A shadow appeared unnoticed by the distressed child.

"Gu-! Agh-! A-A-!" His voice was cut of forcibly as the newly applied seal glowed red, and flowed out over his body. Kanji after kanji, all three-hundred-sixty-one of them began burn and filled the air with the stench of burnt flesh. Unmarred skin darkened, cracked until dark, maroon blood began spilling out. Tendrils of blue light began to flow from the shadow next to him, accompanied by the creaking of wood.

Naruto rolled out from his bed and arched his back in pain, his lungs screaming for air as the kanji swelled with power before bursting in innumerable strings of mixed blood and ink, covering his whole body until he was as black as the darkest tar. The ink covered his eyes, teeth, ears… it spread everywhere.

And then it stopped, with a disembodied hiss. Tears rolled from Naruto's eyes in wide streams as his skin ate the ink.

Then he could finally breath, and he lay on the soft floor, crying and panting. The shadow had disappeared.

His body tingled and felt strange, but he paid no heed.

"W-why?!" he cried, feeling violently nauseous.

She had hurt him. He had trusted her, and she had hurt him!

"Kuu-_uhuuuu_-s-s-uuu-riii," he wailed on the floor, pain ravaging his mind.

A laughter echoed.

'See,' the paranoia whispered. 'I knew they would hurt you. I told you.'

The thin illusion of belonging he had covered his soul with… cracked.

'You thought they cared?'

He was still alone, alone and alone. Her words had all been empty, worse than silence even as they had given him false hope.

'But you didn't listen, oh no…'

Naruto wailed as part of his weakly established word crashed down.

'People are liars, they all want to hurt you…"

Shadows screaming inside his head.

'Heh. I was right.'

Oh, merciful darkness.

* * *

"Haku…?"

The girl tensed and sprang up from her lying position. Despite how unpleasant it was to try and sleep on mud in a downpour, she knew the virtue of resting when given a chance.

"Yes! What, Zabuza-sama?"

The gray-skinned man scowled when he saw her ragged appearance. He had thought to order their rest over, but…

"I have grown weaker. _Tch_!" He spat on the ground.

Haku hesitated.

"What do you mean, Zabuza-sama. You seem as strong as when I first met you."

Cold eyes were directed at her. Despite the many odd jobs he had taken, they were running out of money. Fast. When he had escaped his failed Coup d'état, he had only had enough money for a month. His plan to keep a low profile and buy people's memories had only accounted for himself, not another. And while _he _could go underwater for an undefined amount of time – he was one of the seven swordsmen for God's sake! High profile or not, he was a survivor – the same didn't apply to Haku.

The innocent and disheartened girl destined to die by a cruel world. She who had told him they were the same.

Zabuza growled.

And he would be damned if not some old part he had thought since long buried had stirred in response. Haku, pure as snow, was him as a child. Gender, bloodlines, time – it didn't matter. In essence, they were at the same place. A crossroad. Both orphans, both lacking a place to call home, neither knowing love. Both thrown away by society with no purpose.

Zabuza had chosen the road of carnage, killing and bathing in blood to rise to the top. To change Kiri from its core.

His road had failed. He was a missing-nin, with nothing to rely on, nothing to live for but a naive hope for another chance...

Yes. His road had failed. It had been a bitter road. For Haku… for himself, he needed to see that it was possible to become strong without the road of carnage.

Somewhere in the back of his mind, he had chosen her. Or she had chosen him.

Meh. Details.

But all she wanted to be was a tool. And while he would love a powerful tool, there were several problems with that. First and foremost, he wanted her to be something else. The successor of his will… the road not taken. Secondly, she viewed a tool as something without its own will – when the strongest tools were those who could take actions for their master. Thirdly, he already had a great tool. He didn't need another.

"…Zabuza-sama?"

Kubikiri Houcho created by Amatsumara, the most legendary among smiths, was all he needed in the ways of a tool. His sword was among the greatest in the world. Few were on par with it, the ones that were better could be counted on one hand.

"Forget it Haku," he growled. The money he spent on food for them both, supplies and rooms was double the calculated amount. Also, he couldn't take any high-risk missions since they were too dangerous for Haku. He had grown weak.

"As you wish, Zabuza-sama," the girl resigned herself. Rain kept pouring down through the dull-looking leaves on them.

Fucking girl. She was too narrow-minded. Did she think degrading herself to a tool was going to make him happy? While sure, he wanted a powerful ally that obeyed him perfectly – it was vital to him even – he didn't need a piece of mindless flesh.

No matter how potent piece of flesh it might be.

She would be no ally, nor tool.

Zabuza frowned.

If h wanted her to b the successor of his will, he might as well go the whole damn way.

"Get me water," he ordered the girl.

Haku smiled and closed her eyes. Water from the humid air around the crystallized, and swirled down into a broken metallic bucket before turning back into water.

"Here, Zabuza-sama," she offered.

The man looked at the bucket before sneering.

"Wrong. Don't speak until you know what you should have done."

Haku's small smile fell from her face, turning pale with shock.

"Z-za-"

The former ANBU glared at her.

Haku fell silent. Her eyes became moist as she bowed and sat down, desperately trying to not show her distress.

'She has to learn to think for herself. This is the fastest way,' Zabuza reminded himself. He would turn Haku into a greater kunoichi than he had been a shinobi. He needed to prove to himself that being raised in blood wasn't the right path to power. That a path so hollow was the wrong way.

"Shouldn't I at least be entitled to that much…?" he grumbled.

Haku's body shook in the heavy rain under Zabuza's composed glare. He could at least-

…Hope.

* * *

The next morning, everyone in Hetaera was sleeping hard. They had been working late into the night, so none of the five women in the compound noticed the fact that Naruto wasn't in his room. In fact, he wasn't even in the compound. He was wandering the streets of Konoha without purpose, just looking at the world through bland eyes.

He felt tired. Oh, so tired.

No one was up this early except one spandex-clad man who ran by so fast Naruto hardly had a chance to notice him.

He didn't care.

His trust had been betrayed. He had been betrayed.

Really, he shouldn't feel as horrible as he felt that moment. He should've known that it was all a feeble illusion, a lie or game he couldn't understand.

But the hurt he was feeling didn't play by the rules of logic.

A surge of anger passed through his body and his nails lengthened and sharpened a tiny bit, his eyes darkened to a deeper shade of blue.

Kusuri. His "Nee chan."

Such a damn mockery.

He breathed out and calmed down to his usual, void state.

Emptiness was pretty nice after all. He had been foolish back then, but he had learned.

'Even though Kusuri did that, she probably didn't mean it!' some foolish part of his mind tried to tell him, but he knew better.

He kicked a stone, walking towards the outskirts of Konoha.

'What about Tera? Minami? Tomo!?'

Naruto didn't falter in his determination, even though the voice kept insisting.

'That's right. Tera haven't ever pretended to be kind to you. She has to have been honest, she doesn't mean to hurt you!'

'_But she has hurt you again and again, threatened you and forced you. Is that kindness?'_

'But Minami then? She has never said anything mean to you, she has taken care of you, hugged you… kissed… you…"

'_An act. You were fooled by Kusuri. You can get fooled by Minami. Easily.'_

'Tomo then! She told you that you had to be strong to survive out from Hetaera, she wouldn't tell you to be strong if she wanted you to fail!'

'_It was an advise made out of pity. She pitied you. Or, she tried to give you hope only because she knew you would fail. And be hit that much harder because of it.'_

Naruto battled against himself, trying to come up with reasons to return to Hetaera, his mind constantly contradicting and refusing him. Survival and fright seemed to have the upper hand.

He fought with himself long enough to end up far away from his home, away from the main part of the city and over a hedge, in to a forest. Naruto walked –or rather stumbled – forward for half an hour more, scaring away four-footed brown creatures nearly a metre tall, with dark moist eyes and antlers everywhere he went.

Then he collapsed in a clearing, panting. He rolled over so that his face was turned towards the sky.

A wind blew through the clearing, and Naruto took a deep breath.

It smelled like earth and nature.

A fresh breeze.

Naruto looked up, towards the heavens. The clouds were being hunted across a sky so rich in blue it was almost painful to look at.

Yet strangely relaxing at the same time.

The tension bled out from his body, and the small boy found himself unable to move from there.

He didn't want to. He would stay there forever, if he was allowed.

Silence was a painful thing, but this was no silence made by man.

It was a silence made by nature.

There was a difference.

Rustling of leafs, whispers of wind, tender touches of a pleasantly hot sun despite the early morning. Naruto took a breath, filling it up with all the pain and angst in his body, before letting it out.

Content.

Such a simple thing, but so necessary.

Naruto lay there, and before he knew it... he was asleep.

* * *

Shikamaru frowned.

There was a boy in his clearing.

_His_.

He normally didn't care much about stuff like that, but it was _his_ clearing.

His.

Only his father knew where it was his son wandered of to so often, the clearing being secluded by a net of trees so tricky even the deer avoided the place - though one or two still passed through on occasion.

"…Hey."

The blonde kid slowly shook his head and mumbled something.

Huh. Seemed to be a light-sleeper.

Shikamaru bent down, picked up a suitably thick stick, and threw it at the kid in a lazy arc.

It hit spot-on his forehead.

The brunette waited... But there was no reaction.

Shikamaru had expected the kid to fly up, and was surprised when that didn't happen. In fact, the kid didn't move at all.

'…Was I wrong? A heavy sleeper?'

The boy didn't move a muscle. It was a bit unnatural actually. He didn't know anyone who wouldn't react to having a stick hit his head... and he didn't think the hit had killed the blonde…

"Hey. I can see you're faking it."

The boy simply sat up slowly, and didn't bother to contradict him.

How nice. Most kids seemed to have a desperate need to try to lie their way out of situations. Not that lying was bad, it was an essential skill actually. But the kids made lies when there was no need, when it was obvious that they _were_ in fact lying. They only embarrassed themselves.

"Sorry to bother you," the boy apologized in a monotone. Shikamaru didn't need the apology, even _if_ the boy was trespassing on their lands, and was in _his_ clearing. He didn't care enough to need it.

But the way the kid had said it bothered him. It wasn't uncaring in a mean way, but rather lacking in any emotion at all.

Shikamaru took note of the boy's too-large t-shirt and shorts. And that he was barefoot.

"Why are you here?" he questioned in an aloof tone.

The blonde shrugged.

"I simply ended up here."

Shikamaru raised a brow.

"…Barefoot?"

The boy looked at him oddly with large, blue eyes.

"…Yes." The brunettes' silence prompted him to fill in more. "I don't have any shoes."

Shikamaru frowned disbelievingly.

"_Everyone_ has shoes."

Naruto shook his head.

"I've never been out. I haven't needed to."

Shikamaru sat down on the grass. It was too much of a hassle to stand.

"…Really?" He couldn't quite believe that. "Where do you live?"

A subtle shift of angst crossed the trespassers face before he answered.

"A place called Hetaera. I.. loaned a room there."

The brunette took note of the short pause before "loaned". And Hetaera, wasn't that one of the places guys went to? He didn't know all the details, but his father had talked about it.

A sudden notion struck Shikamaru.

"Are you an orphan?" he asked bluntly.

"Yes."

…That was a fast answer. Didn't it bother him?

"And you've run away?"

Silence. But it was an acknowledging silence.

Shikamaru found himself interested. Here he was, with a mission to get to know an orphan kid, and what did he get? Why, an orphaned kid on his doorstep with none of the irritating habits most kids possessed! It was a gift from Benten, if she existed.

"My name 's Nara Shikamaru. Yours?"

Aloof, bored eyes locked the smaller boy in place.

"… Naruto. Uzumaki Naruto."

The brunette nodded. That was a good start. He had a name.

Now for the rest.

* * *

One day had gone since Naruto disappeared. Kusuri stood in front of one man she had thought she would never see again.

The Hokage.

"Ei-san," he addressed her gravely. "What… have you _done_?"

The woman felt the beginnings of panic rise through her body. The man didn't have his usual, friendly face. His eyes were shadowed, his robes pristine and noble. The warm light from the panel of windows behind him did nothing to ease the chilly fright Sarutobi induced.

"I-I-I bettered on…N-Naru-Naruto's H-hime n-no gensou," she shakily answered.

Her stutter had worsened.

Sarutobi looked at her wearily. "Ei-san," he began in a patient tone as if chiding a misbehaving child. "I approved of the first seal, because I knew what it was. I could compare it to my knowledge. I had ANBU watching the sealing. I knew the situation. That, was an acceptable conduct from your side."

Kusuri nodded fervently.

"What you did, Ei-san, was to apply another seal, _chaining _it into his keirakukei _and_ the Shiki Fuuin, without supervision, without allowance, without certainty..." He paused. "Do you have _any_ idea what tampering with the fourths seal could result in…?"

Kusuri trembled, didn't answer. The room grew colder and the air thicker, pressing against her head.

"I said, Ei-san. Do you. Have _any _idea. What _effects... _this could have." Sarutobi glared at her.

"N-n-no!"

The Hokage stood up, blocking out the sun. "Let me tell you what happened, Ei-_san_. The Kyuubi's chakra began to mingle with _your_ seal. Do you under_stand_?"

Kusuri's eyes widened in horror.

"...Luckily, the ANBU in charge had chosen a watcher experienced in dealing with demonic chakra, and he was able to subdue it… but it was close. _Too_ close."

"I-I-I!"

"STILL," Sarutobi interrupted the pale woman, "it seems that whatever happened damaged Naruto's psyche. Apparently, he cried. Said that you had betrayed him."

Kusuri recoiled as if slapped with a pained gasp.

"N-no, I… I, I wanted to-to-"

"Enough with the excuses," Sarutobi sighed. It was paining him to be cruel as much as it pained her to hear it. But it was a necessary evil "I placed Naruto with you because I trusted you would treat him well. Not only have you acted irresponsibly, broken a young boy and endangered us all. You have failed _me_ as well. Please tell me, Ei-san… what for?"

The politeness didn't hide the unbending steel in his voice.

"F-for his s-s-sake!" Kusuri tried to scream, eyes becoming teary. Sarutobi glared her down so hard that Kusuri felt very much like a young girl rather than the woman she was.

"No, Ei-san. You didn't do it for him, and you didn't do it for your associates. You did it for your mad_ obsession_ to become Tsunade. An impossible goal anyway."

Kusuri couldn't think clearly.

'Is it true?… Did I do it for myself? But I thought- but it might be- is he right, oh why, and he became sad and cried, he cried for me-!"

The prostitute sank to her knees.

"The boy is okay for now. He escaped into Nara's lands. No one except the higher ups will know about this, it won't reach the civilian population. Hetaera is safe."

Sarutobi's voice was coated with cold steel.

"Do not fail me again, woman."

* * *

"Are you sure, Shikaku?" Yoshino asked worriedly. "An orphan? Why not a normal kid?"

Shikaku avoided meeting his wife's eyes as he answered.

"Since orphans naturally are more prone to be secretive. They wont give parts of their life up as easily as "normal" kids."

The Nara female sighed. She couldn't really buy it.

"What about Chouji? He's a good kid, nice parents too."

Shikaku frowned. He couldn't actually say their son didn't care that much for Chouji – it would leak out and hurt many people. And he didn't want to risk his friendship with Chōza.

"'Cause Chouji is too easy-going. He accepts Shikamaru for who he is."

"That's good... isn't it?"

"Not in this case," Shikaku disagreed, still avoiding Yoshino's eyes. She was a dominant woman – very much so. Part of why he accepted her proposal. She was so different from the rest of the aloof clan, she was a spitfire and decisive.

Whipped, his son called him with a hint of disgust. That might be true. And it might be true that he was a bit frightened of her. But it was also true that he loved her.

"Shikamaru needs this, Yoshino. Please."

His wife opened her mouth in surprise, before smiling. It had been long since Shikaku had asked her for anything. She had been forced to be the one to take initiative during their whole lives together, as he wouldn't. The roles sort of… stuck. It was nice to see a change.

She was so pleased, that she accepted her husband's request at face value.

"I'm still not happy with it. But okay. I'll trust you. "

Shikaku let out a breath he had been holding in relief. He didn't think she would agree for a few seconds.

"Thanks Yoshi."

She smiled at him.

"It's for our son, right. How could I refuse?"

* * *

Probing Naruto for answers could be likened to watering a stubborn seed with a broken container, Shikamaru concluded.

That is to say – horribly enervating.

Shikamaru laughed tiredly at himself. His name – Naruto. Good start huh?

Like hell it had been. That was the easy part, just sprinkling the seed with some water. Waiting for it to grow, he came to understand, was the more tedious part. Had he been a complete sloth he might have given up a long time ago, no matter his fathers' threats. He could always find another orphan… there were a lot since the Kyuubi had attacked Konoha five years prior.

But it seemed that his fathers sloth, had been fused with, loath as he was to admit it, his mothers pride and will.

Not only was he a lazy slacker. He was a lazy, _determined, prideful_ slacker.

And those kinds of slackers simply couldn't quit.

"So you were beaten down, and woke up at that Hetaera place?"

Naruto nodded.

"…yeah.

It had taken all of the young Nara's skill and willpower to manipulate the blonde to tell him some of his life. More than seven hours had passed by in the peaceful clearing with a few pieces of breadcrumbs on the grass between them. Shikamaru had packed some sandwiches with mackerel, planning for a long stay. The appearance of Naruto had changed that, and he had used the food as a silence breaker whenever Naruto slowed down.

"… Is silence really that horrible?" Shikamaru casually asked, but his eyes betrayed his interest. Naruto was an enigma. He wasn't an idiot like everyone else, had things worth thinking about on his mind, was secretive, and most intriguing of all…

He detested silence. Where Shikamaru longed for it.

"Yes," Naruto said without hesitation. "Doesn't everyone hate it?"

Shikamaru shook his head in negative.

"Nah. I like it. Everyone just keeps nagging and screaming and being noisy. It sucks," he drawled, awaiting Naruto's response eagerly despite the uncaring tone.

It took a while for the blonde to answer, but when he did;

"Ah… but aren't you a bit… spoiled?" Naruto asked tentatively. He rather enjoyed speaking with Shikamaru, and didn't want to particularly upset the boy, but somehow, he wanted to be… frank, for lack of a better word. He felt he owed it to the kid who had listened to him without pause for the better part of the day.

"…What?" That was not what Shikamaru had expected. "What do you mean?" he asked, perplexed.

Naruto leaned back against the trunk of a large tree, relishing in the rough texture behind his linen T.

"Well… I never had anything. And you had a bit too much of everything…?"

"...Hn," Shikamaru grunted a maybe-so-but maybe-not sound. Naruto took the hint, and continued a bit nervously.

"So… you are a bit spoiled. And you know it, so you… run away."

Shikamaru didn't acknowledge nor disagree to what the blond proposed. He thought it had more to do with the others being idiots and noisy as hell, but… well, there might be a speckle of truth in what he said.

Just a speckle though! Nothing more.

"…Maybe," he finally said, "that is part of it."

That was enough for now about him.

"Are you happier now then? Now that you got those… women taking care of you."

Prostitutes. He had remembered the word after a few hours. Women who sold themselves.

"…Well, yeah." There was some hesitation. "My life is much better… better than it has ever been. Minami okaa-san is kind, Tomo-chan is funny, Tira-sama is honest and K-…Kusu-…"

Naruto swallowed. Shikamaru decided it was time to move on.

"Then why did you run away?" he quickly said spinning away from the previous question, trying to avoid dangerous ground.

Naruto's face contracted and he closed his eyes.

'Shit! I went too fast! Obviously this is something bad, now he'll clam shut and…!"

"You don't have to tell," Shikamaru quickly added. Out of the ash into the fire… damn it.

The boy opposite to him took a breath, before relaxing his tense muscles.

"Nah. It's okay." Naruto opened his eyes. They were moist. "It's okay."

Somehow, Shikamaru felt at loss to words for that response. It was obviously painful for he kid, so…

'Why…?'

"I told you people don't like me, right?"

Shikamaru hummed in response. Not the choice of words he would have used to describe what Naruto had been subjugated too, but sure, he could play along. He hadn't believed the kid at first since it all seemed a tad bit too unbelievable… he had even mused a bit about if it was a common trait for orphans to make up stories to make people pay attention as Naruto continued the painful tale. But Shikamaru had changed his opinion. Partly because of the way he told the story, filled with so much emotion he had to be a lunatic to fake it. Partly because of the way Naruto constantly sought his verbal agreement, how he would seek his eyes. Stuff like that. Tied together with an irrational interest, he believed the Uzumaki.

"And 'cause of that, they had to hide me with a lot of ink that made me look different. My hair is usually spiky you see."

Well, perhaps he was a lunatic then. Since-

"It _is _spiky," the Nara drawled.

Naruto recoiled with shock and patted his head furiously. Spikes of hair tried to resist his hands.

Yep. They were back alright.

Naruto nearly broke down again.

"So she removed the disguise too…" he muttered with a voice thick from pain.

"… The Kusa-women?"

"Kusuri," Naruto corrected. He seemed to have entered a near cationic state. "She taught me how to speak. She was the first one who taught me anything. She is the second person to call me by my name. Jiji and the one-eye don't count."

Naruto bit back a sob.

"And she hurt me on my birthday!" he hoarsely whispered. It sounded as if he didn't believe it himself. "She put ink on me and said it was so that I wouldn't hurt the others, and it _burned –_ it hurt! On my birthday…"

Shikamaru frowned. So some woman who had taught him to speak and cared for him and created protection for him, suddenly decided to undo it in one night. There had to be something going on he didn't see… or perhaps just a simple misunderstanding? Seals – for he assumed that was the ink Naruto was speaking of – were complex things, he knew that. His father had once begun telling him about the creation of explosive tags. The theory behind them was stupidly verbose.

"…Are you sure she meant to hurt ya then?" he slowly asked. He didn't really want to see the kid being depressed. It felt bad.

"Huh?" That sound was half a sob.

"I heard I from my dad. Seals are complicated. Perhaps she just messed up?"

Naruto sat up straighter.

"Y…you think so?!"

"Well yeah. Nobody's perfect. And she taught you how to speak. Sounds stupid if she wanted to hurt you later," Shikamaru reasoned.

'_No! It's part of the trap! She spent all that time so that it would hurt more! He will also try to fool you! Everyone will! They will hurt you, you hurt them fir-'_

Naruto cut of the voice screaming inside his head.

"… Truth. Do you really think that?"

The blonde was serious, Shikamaru could hear that clearly. His eyes meant business, as did the way he was steadily clenching and unclenching his fists.

"Yeah. Though I don't know that much about your situation…"

'So I might be wrong', was not said.

Naruto contemplated this by first staring at the ground, then to the painfully blue sky.

That's right... painful things didn't necessarily man bad things.

"I'll go back," he told Shikamaru and rose up, stretching his back. Light filtered through the leaves, causing a pattern of shadows and green light to cover the scrawny boy. His hair, the color of yellow wheat, partly hung down in front his yale-blue eyes. Eyes that studied Shikamaru with a casual invite in them.

Want to come?

Shikamaru didn't really think as he, too, stood up.

"I'll tag along," he responded to the invitation.

And smiled. A foreign expression somewhere between a grin, a smirk and soft content.

Naruto met his try at a smile with a light grin of his own.

"Thanks."

* * *

Tera stood still as stone in front of the onsen. A monolith of frozen, horrified sadness. The flat stones laid out in a path through the grass, leading to the pool had been made pleasantly hot by the sun. They warmed her feet.

Tera didn't cry, no. She was too strong – and too weak for that. She just stood still. She didn't even notice the runaway Naruto returning without his disguise, a scowling brunette beside him.

The sun was setting, and the sharp color from just a few hours before had been replaced my a softer, more tender shade of darkened blue with a hint of purple, orange clouds littered all over.

Tera didn't shake as her eyes remained glued to the onsen, and the neatly folded pieces of azure clothing.

The boys walked up to her, bringing with them a scent of forest and decaying leafs to the heavy perfume and incense of Hetaera.

Tera didn't react as Naruto froze still, much like she had, both kid's eyes widening to impossible proportions.

There was a key on the pile of clothes, slightly rusted but obviously much cared for. A criss-cross pattern of waves had been brought almost to oblivion by many long years of use.

"Shit," the brunette whispered. He looked horrified and surprised, a bit frightened too.

Naruto began to tremble before falling down on his knees, silent uncomprehending tears starting to roll.

"W..what-no..nono?"

His words trembled too. Though tremble didn't quite do it justice.

Naruto's voice, the voice of a child, cracked, fell to pieces of screams in a mad symphony.

There was a body in the pool. A pale, petite body with maroon hair made heavy and dark by water. It just floated there, limp and slightly bloated.

Ah. He knew that body.

"_Kusuri!"_

_

* * *

  
_

Joanna's Notes:

And thus, the fourth chapter with the early demise of an OC... a very, very influential demise. Actually, I thought I would have worked past the childhood arc around the previous chapter. In this chapter at the latest. Still, there is so much to write, so much to tell... though I will try to bring this arc to a closure soon.

Look forward to the next chap!

Glossary:

Gyaku: Reverse

Benten: Also known as lady luck


	5. Chapter 5: Moving on

Thanks goes to Cerv for checking this... And thanks to those who were friendly enough to notify me that I had managed to add an old chap instead of the new^^

* * *

**Esthesis**

* * *

**Chapter Five: Moving on**

* * *

Kusuri's burial was a solemn thing. Just a few words spoken by someone called Asuma, an old acquaintance of Raku's wearing the traditional garbs of a Fire monk, and other than that – silence.

"And thus, another bright flame is extinguished… But it has not been in vain, know that. Treasure that. For this woman gave birth to small pieces of light, love and time to be cherished when all seems dark… memories, experiences… that will _never_ disappear," the man spoke in a deep voice. His eyes swept over Hetaera, stopped for a fraction of a second on Naruto before moving on.

The boy didn't notice. He was lost in his thoughts.

It wasn't a bad speech, not at all. It didn't sound as if Asuma had memorized it all in advance and just repeated what he had read… but still-

Naruto tried to swallow, but found he couldn't.

-Asuma… didn't know her. He might feel sad for a life lost, and he might be able to sympathize... But then, that was it. He didn't know Kusuri's slow smile. How she liked gardening. How her idol was Tsunade. How she could reassure a small child lost in a silent world…

Asuma, for what passion he had, didn't know any of that,

"…remember this proud woman, and carry on her will of fire. For then you will bless her, and be blessed in return. She will watch over you from mount Atago, Kagutsuchi by her side…"

Naruto looked at the sky. It was devoid of clouds, a careful, bleak color. As if it recognized the occasion.

How kind.

Asuma crushed a piece of charcoal in his hand and grinded it to black dust between his powerful fingers, before allowing the fine power to graciously descend to the body.

"From fire born, through fire lived… in death… you are now cleansed," he mumbled with one hand held in front of his face, closing his eyes in respect.

Someone choked back tears.

"Bye…" Tera spoke with a clear voice. Asuma placed his palms together and inclined his head, as in prayer, before whispering.

"Shiroi…furea."

A soft, white flame engulfed the body, still clad in her azure kimono. How the fire-monks lit the bodies alight through those words was a well-preserved secret, as there was no trace of chakra being used. The flame itself was an enigma, unnaturally smooth, radiating no heat but still turning the body to cinders in seconds. The priests called the flame Amaterasu, named after one of the great many gods worshipped in the land of Fire.

Naruto stifled back a cry as he saw Kusuri disappear in the flame. For him, such a reverent name as that of a goddess didn't fit. This was something horrible, something frightening. But he knew it was tradition to cremate bodies in the fire country. It had always been. The ashes were kept in chests, pots or spread, depending on what the relatives wished for. Legend said that the fourth Hokage's ashes had been enough to cover every inch of the village, embracing it even after his death. Kusuri had taught him that, as she knew many nursery rhymes and legends from her childhood, and could retell them. She had told him with the delighted slowness she always displayed when speaking of legends, that it made her happy to be able to tell them to someone.

Naruto couldn't care less about the contents of the legends. Kusuri had taught him them. Pieces from her childhood. That in itself gave them a value surpassing everything.

She had used those exact words herself, he remembered.

"_My mother… died in the war," Kusuri said while carefully stroking his whiskered cheek. She smiled at him. "But the stories she told me… will always remain." She paused her stroking. "That makes them more valuable… than anything you can buy."_

Then she had kissed his forehead.

Kusuri had been a child too, he realized with sudden horror. Obvious at a quick glance, but holding a far deeper meaning if you cared to look a bit further.

She had been a child. She had lived. She had suffered.

And now it was all gone, eaten by that deceivingly pure flame.

"Uhu…" Naruto breathed out. He felt ill.

"Remain strong, my child," the bearded monk said as he passed by Naruto. He looked a bit guilty. "Preserve."

Standing around the pyre were Minami, Tera, Raku and Tomo along with him and Shikamaru.

Tera remained stoic, Minami was silently crying. Tomo didn't seem to see the fire in front of her, eyes locked into the distance.

Raku was desperate trying to suck air into her dry lungs.

"Why…" she asked with a rough voice.

Naruto turned dull eyes towards her.

"Why did she take _suicide_ for _you_?"

On Kusuri's wooden desk, there had been five letters. The one to him had been an apology, written in neat italic writing. The ink had bled out into bluish black circles of wavy paper at several spots.

' _If you read this…I'm so sorry, Naruto. I didn't mean to hurt you. I really didn't. I love you. I love you. I would never hurt you, never. But perhaps I did it unconsciously. Perhaps I created the seal for my sake, since I wanted to complete the seal. Perhaps I let my wish get in the way of my love._

_I'm sorry Naruto._

_I'm __sorry__._

_I have caused you pain, and you ran away. You hate me now No doubt about it._

_I'm sorry._

_I don't know what to do anymore. Everything is so confusing. I'm scared, Naruto. I'm sorry._

_I hope that if we ever meet in the afterlife, you will have forgiven me._

_I'm so sorry Naruto._

_I didn't mean it._

_I love you._

_Kusuri."_

She had killed herself through submersion after having eaten the seeds from several Datura stramonium, according to the ANBU investigating her death.

It hadn't been painless.

"_Answer!"_ the woman hissed.

"Stop it Raku," Tera ordered. What the woman was doing was purely destructive. Both for herself, for Naruto and Hetaera. If she didn't obey and hurt Naruto, Sarutobi would-. Raku didn't obey. She was beyond furious, her eyes dancing with wrath.

"Why you, you damn demon, why you? If you hadn't come, Kusuri would be alive? Why did you come? Wh-!"

"_EN_OUGH."

This time the distressed woman fell silent, but her fist trembled still. Then she fell down on her knees and slowly lowered her head to the ground, quivering all the while

"Why…?" she sobbed. "_Why_?"

Naruto took a deep, shuddering breath as he looked at the quaking woman. She was clawing at the ground, destroying her lusciously painted red nails. A hand was placed on his shoulder tentatively.

"…You okay?" Naruto turned to the concerned brunette standing next to him. Shikamaru winced at his own thoughtlessness, so uncharacteristic of him. "Sorry. Of course you ain't."

Naruto nodded his acceptance. He felt pretty distanced to everything, so it wasn't that bad.

"…Naruto?" Minami hesitated between the boy and the crying Raku. Who needed the most help? And would the other one take offense?

Minami raised a bent finger to her lip, torn. She hated conflict!

"…Lets go out for a while," Shikamaru suggested with an evident tone of worry in his voice. Tera nodded sadly.

"That is probably for the best, now at least. Come back tomorrow."

Shikamaru nodded to the extravagantly clad woman and laid an arm around Naruto's shoulder, forcing him to turn around and begin to walk away. Minami looked at the backs of the two children helplessly. How could everything have gone so wrong?

* * *

"Water Haku."

The black haired girl nodded, quickly producing a bucket and scooping some dirty water from the ground into it without stopping. She closed her eyes and let minuscule amounts of her distinct chakra filter through the water, purifying it. Neither had stopped walking, keeping a brisk pace under the damp morning of characteristic of Mizu. Fog drifted in and out of sight, seemingly clinging to the huge mangrove trees sprouting all around them.

"Here, Zabuza-sama." She jumped over a darkened root with a little bit of effort, careful not to spill.

Zabuza took the bucket and swept the water down with one heavy gulp before tossing it back. Haku deftly caught it, and waited anxiously.

He glanced at her. Saw what she needed. "Good."

Her face lit up.

Haku had been fast to come up with the answer. Faster than he had thought. When she first had collected the water, she had done so through using her bloodline to first crystallize the humid air, then collect it only to reverse the process. Not only did it take more time, it also cost a freakishly unnecessary amount of chakra. And it left a very distinct imprint in the air that skilled ninja could follow, and she had to stop whatever else she was doing. What she had done had been wasteful, risky, and time-consuming.

And for ninja, time was of utmost essence.

Haku had realized all that on her own, proceeding to figuring the fastest and most secure way to gather the greatest quantities of water with minimum effort. All on her own with the only hint being that her current way was wrong.

She was a bright girl, he was delighted to note.

Haku smiled a beamingly white smile at him in response to his praise. Apparently, she was literary bright too. How unfitting for one having chosen the path of a ninja… but maybe fitting for a child? He didn't know, it could be an anomaly among those too.

"Zabuza-sama… where are we going?" the girl hesitantly wondered. A white snake hissed at them as they went past.

"Why do you want to know?" he asked back in a gruff voice. The orphan recoiled at the tone.

"Ah-no! I'm sorry, Zabuza-sama, I was out of lin-"

"I asked you a question." Zabuza glared at her. "Answer."

Haku inclined her head before speaking.

"So that I know if I should store some water, Zabuza-sama!" she spoke quickly.

The missing-nin slowed down. She was even brighter than he had given her credit for. Already having learnt her lesson, and now applying it with the future in mind… she would make a great kunoichi. He paused before answering, ignoring the dribbles of water and sweat running down his back, causing his clothes to grow sticky.

"Nagi Island. It doesn't have a ninja village of is own and relies on the fire country for ninja. It is separate from Kiri, and very off. The geography is similar to our current location, with more salt in the air. We will reach port in about four hours, and will spend around thrice the time on the boat."

Haku nodded. He had given her more information than she had asked for, but without any direct answers. He clearly wanted her to use her own mind.

Zabuza looked at her.

"We will quicken the pace.

For a ninja, being able to multitask was also essential. And with all the roots around here, along with an unspecified problem – several, actually – the girl would have to learn.

"Do not stumble." Was his last advise – order- whatever, before he fell silent.

"Hai, Zabuza-sama," Haku replied in a low, reverent tone that he barely heard through the rain that had begun falling.

'_My savior'_

_

* * *

_

Eventually they found themselves in Shikamaru's secret clearing. Naruto sunk down against the same tree he had the last time while Shikamaru put himself to rest in the middle, lying down.

"I don't understand…" Naruto began suddenly. He turned his head to the side, facing away from Shikamaru. "Like Raku said… why?"

That "why" didn't need any explaining to the Nara. He understood well enough.

'Can I cheer him up, I wonder?' Shikamaru thought distractedly. The whole issue was troublesome and complex, something he really didn't want to put his hands into. Perhaps, he could give an answer to the boy that would satisfy him. Something along the lines of "because it was her wish, she had probably searched for something to die for, and found you Naruto. A way to escape her tragic past…" et cetera, et cetera. He could probably twist the words somewhat so that Naruto would become happy, even though he didn't have all the facts. He had done it before.

But did he really want to do that? Was twisting words, deceiving and ridiculing the truth the right way to help Naruto?

Shikamaru sighed. It really was a troublesome affair. Above his head, a cloud shifted form. It looked like a "thumbs up".

As good a reason as any, he supposed.

"Because Kusuri-san was mentally damaged. Her brain worked differently than the rest of us," he began in an uncaring monotone. Through half-lidded eyes, he noticed Naruto's shoulders tense up. "Since she let you in and began caring for you, she was easily hurt by what you did." Wow. That was pretty harsh… well, the truth mostly was.

Naruto trembled.

It was silent for a moment, then:

"What do you mean _"different_"?" Naruto spat the word out. His voice had taken a dangerous tone to it, and accompanied by the suddenly sharp-looking nails and angry eyes, it was actually quite uncomfortable. "Ku-u… Kusuri… was a wonderful person!"'

So he took personal offense? Good.

'Success.'

"I didn't say she wasn't. Just _slow_. Brain _damaged_," the genius intoned. Shikamaru had checked up information on the woman in his clan's archives. There hadn't been much. Just a name and cause for retirement. No more.

It was enough.

"Kusuri was a better person than nearly anyone I ever met, Shikamaru," the blond growled. He turned his head towards the boy, eyes glowing with restrained emotion. "I don't care 'bout the rest."

The steadily darkening heavens were impressive and dominant above the canopy of trees, but somehow their power only seemed to give more weight to his fellow agemate's words. As if it was something of grave importance.

"Then why do you react so strongly? Tell me Naruto," Shikamaru said. He kept his voice carefully even and composed, even as he felt something twist uncomfortably at speaking to Naruto in such a manner. Responsibility? Somehow that didn't seem right… but then what was it he felt?

Naruto abandoned the support of the rough tree and stood up. His body was rigid and his breaths came uneven and agonized.

Naruto looked pained.

"Why I react strongly…? Because-"

Shikamaru, too, stood up. He faced the blonde seriously. There was an air of solemn sadness in the surrounding the two.

Naruto searched for the answer, and his eyes began to tear up.

Shikamaru didn't even flinch. The greater the emotions Naruto would let out was, the better he would feel, he theorized. He had succeeded in the emotional buildup at least. As for the rest… time would tell.

'Just why does this hurt? Why does this feel so bad? Why do I try to protect her, even when there's nothing to protect? And when she's at fault too?'

Questions raced through Naruto's head and with each new, his face became a bit more desperate, a bit more mournful. After all, he already knew the answer. And once he had admitted that to himself, all gates he had been trying to reinforce broke down by a torrent of emotion.

He drew a hitched, deep breath before he began, watery eyes nailing Shikamaru in the spot.

"She was _family_. She was_ family_ dammnit," he cried. "And she killed herself for such a _fucking _stupid thing as hurting me – accidentally! How can she be that stupid! Family! Fabily Shikama-u! _Fabily_!" Naruto tilted his head so his tears hit the partly decayed leafs on the ground. "She w-was_ fucking_ fabily," he wailed with twisted words, filled with the devastation he felt. "And she died for sudch a stup'd reason- I- I cant understabd 't! She was ma _f-fabily_!"

The bluish gray darkness above them decided to spare Shikamaru from the embarrassment of witnessing a broken boy's tears. Water started falling faster and faster until it was as if someone had tipped a canteen over the forest.

"She w-w-was ba _fa-family,_" Shikamaru heard through the smattering of the rain. A healthy, fresh scent arose from the soaked forest around them.

Naruto was hulking with snot and spit and tears mixed together in his contorted face. It was so strained, so pained…

Shikamaru felt horrible, and opened his mouth to say something – anything!

No words came out.

He was just one boy alone in a forest with a crying kid. What could he do?

Never before had he felt such pure… loss, as of what to do. The other children's conflicts he had been able to solve easily, even as he felt contempt for them. For their stupid lies, for their naivety, for their simple problems…

This wasn't even in their league. Not even in their universe. In Naruto, he saw so much raw agony he couldn't even comprehend it. This was _nothing_ like anything he had ever seen before. He had no idea what words to use, what manner that would help him…

He didn't know!

_!_

_Smack._

Shikamaru looked at his hand. It was kept in a quivering fist.

'I… hit him?'

He looked at the surprised Uzumaki lying on his back in the muddy mess of leafs.

Naruto looked as shocked as Shikamaru felt.

Uncomprehending.

"She was stupid, I agree!"

'Am I… shouting…?'

"But she wrote that she loved you!"

"I… am."

"Cant you get that into your head? Isn't that what counts?"

'…The hell… that's not even logical…'

"You are trampling over her death being like this?"

'Wait… that was too much… what the hell is I saying?'

"BASTARD!"

'Ohno… Nononono-!'

_Smack!_

This time, it was Shikamaru who ended up on the soggy ground. Naruto followed soon after, throwing himself at the larger boy. Even if a sloth, Shikamaru had received proper nutrition and hadn't had his growth stunted like Naruto, so it was an even fight.

Heh. Fight. More like a crazed flailing of limbs.

And the rain kept falling, obscuring the form of two angry boys.

The fight lasted for nearly three minutes before Naruto tried to rise up, but slipped and fell down on Shikamaru.

Hard.

"Get away – _cough _– idiot," Shikamaru tried to force the heavy body away, found that he couldn't, and resigned himself. Naruto slid down next to him by –if not his own – gravity's will.

"You – _wheeze_ – beg'n –_wheeze_ – idjit!

"Only – _pant_ – because you were acting so damn –_cough _– pathetic.

Naruto began a retort, then stopped. Tears filled his eyes, and he laughed.

A mix of sadness, adrenaline, relief and joy.

"Ahaha… I was, wasn't I…?"

He closed his eyes with a smile that quivered just a bit.

"Yeah… definitely," Shikamaru assured him dryly. Though he smiled too.

"Haha… ouch!" Naruto winced, nursing a large purple bruise that began forming over his left cheek.

"… Let's go to my house," Shikamaru said, his smile already replaced with a light frown of worry before wobbly standing up. "It's closest, and we need to check ourselves."

"Mhm…" Naruto agreed. He was too tired to argue.

Shikamaru extended a hand.

Naruto grabbed it.

Both smiled.

Bond.

* * *

"Look what happen now because of your stupid idea!" Yoshino hissed with venom.

"…But Shikamaru still brought him over. On his violation," Shikaku tried.

But alas, it was futile against a woman like Yoshino.

"Yes. Bruised, soaked, beaten and _bleeding_. My _child_!"

"Boys do tend to get into scuffles from time to time… I'm sure-"

"And since when, Shikaku, did you measure Shikamaru with the stick called "norm"?"

Yoshino's eyes told him that he had hit a dead-end.

'Well, she got me there,' Shikaku admitted to himself.

"Perhaps it is something special with that boy…" he, once more, tried.

Alas, futile.

"Oh yes. Special. As in violent, egoistical and emotionally disturbed. Honestly!" his wife fumed. Not without reason, he supposed. Shikamaru had suddenly come home wet like a fish, bleeding and overall miserable with a black-haired teenager by his side, also beaten. When he had asked who the other kid was and why he was here, Shikamaru had answered with three words. Orphan. Fought. Medication.

His sons' glare had told him to stop any further questions he might have, and take them later.

Luckily, it hadn't been anything serious for either boy. Just some good 'ol fleshpounding that rest would heal in no time. Potentially fever too, but that wasn't anything to go ballistic over.

Which was what Yoshino did. She was the over-protective aggressive vengeful woman he loved, truly.

'If anything though, she should be proud. That boy has to be a whole meter taller than Shikamaru. To have an even fight to such a degree with a teenager… impressive.'

"Like _hell _it's impressive, Shikaku!"

Ah. She had guessed his thoughts.

"Fighting… honestly is that all you boys know how to do?"

Shikaku saw an opening.

"Well… our whole society is built around fighting, so it's only natural-"

"To have your son fight with older teenagers? He is five, Shikaku."

"Soon si-"

"Do not play me with words Shikaku! I deserve better… don't I?"

Damn. A guilt trip.

"Sorry Yoshino," he sighed, "but this is how it is right now. I know it is hard, but for now… let us see what happens. Please."

He rose up from his seated position, turning around towards the room his son and the other kid was in.

"Are you willing to bet my trust on this?"

Shikaku paused.

"That is unfair Yoshino."

She couldn't see his face, but could guess that it contorted with pain, from his voice.

'Sorry…'

She grimaced - but was far too prideful a woman to say her thoughts out loud. Instead;

"The world is unfair."

Shikaku closed the door behind him. He didn't want to hear anymore.

"Hi Shikamaru…" he greeted his son. Said son sat in an oversized white T next to the other kid.

"…Hey," Shikamaru greeted him back. It took a few seconds of awkward seconds before he managed to get a conversation going.

"So this is the kid?"

"Yeah."

"You sure he is…" Shikaku hesitated. "A good choice? There are others."

Shikamaru didn't move an inch.

"He is the one. Definitely."

Shikaku halted. There was such a… conviction in his voice. A certainty of the likes he had never encountered before in his moody son.

"…Really?"

"Yes."

Shikaku took a breath, and let it out.

"Why," he asked in his usual raspy and rough voice.

Shikamaru was silent. Had Shikaku seen his face, he would have been able to see a troubled frown move across his face.

"I don't know."

Everything was silent again. Their relationship was only weakly established, he supposed. He knew his son, but his son didn't know him. He would put his faith to this gamble of trust, that his son would learn the importance of connections through a orphan that he fought with.

"Hah… what a damn mess," he snorted as he turned around and left. "Your mother is disapproving. Get the kid away as fast as possible. I'll cover for you."

Surprised, Shikamaru spun his head around.

"…thanks." He hesitated. "Dad."

Only when far away from the main building, Shikaku let his eyes become moist.

'Dad.'

A choked sob rattled through the air, noticed by none.

* * *

Shikamaru frowned at Naruto as soon as the kid opened his eyes.

"You need to practice pretending to be asleep. You lie as still as if you were dead."

Naruto groaned, ignoring Shikamaru's advice.

"I don't think this transformation is good for me Shikamaru." Shikamaru glanced at the former blonde. Truly, he didn't look well. His skin was pale, he was sweating and his eyes were dim.

"…Lets get to the clearing, you can change back there, right?"

Naruto shakily sat up with an equally shaky smile.

"S..su-"

Thump.

Shikamaru glared at the unmoving body.

"Naruto, this better be a joke."

The body didn't answer.

"I'm not joking!"

Still nothing.

"I wont carry you, damn it!"

Black hair turned blonde, eyes become yale-blue and body mass diminished.

So the teenager had become a five-year old. Now that would become a great story to tell. And his parents would just _love _learning that he had witnessed a suicide in the akasen. Suicide, prostitutes, fights with generally hated orphans – and their son.

Yeah, they'd love that.

…

'Shit.'

* * *

The room was clean, simple and well-kept.

"Sai… why won't you smile?"

The seven-year old looked at Fū oddly.

"I am smiling, sempai."

"No, you are not," the blonde Yamanaka disagreed. They were using one of the storage rooms that had been abandoned years earlier and not reopened officially. For Danzo however, nothing was locked out. "What you are doing, is raising the corners of your mouth and closing you eyes."

Sai pondered this.

"Then what is a smile, if not an upward curving of the corners of the mouth?"

Fū sighed. Sai, while amazingly perceptive was a horrible liar. He was too bland. Nothing seemed real coming from him, and his words and expressions would never be trusted. He was utterly unsuited to become a spy, infiltrator or anything of the like. But Danzo wanted him to be able to socialize like a normal human being, ignoring seven years worth of strict upbringing. Fū had known it would be though, but if it went on like this…

'I wont be able to fix this in time… with other surroundings, during different circumstances… maybe. But not here. Not with a leader-subordinate relationship in a sterile environment.'

Fū decided.

'I will have to ask Danzo for permission…"

* * *

Naruto glanced at the blurry image above his head.

"Sh..ika?"

The brunette glared at him.

"Yeah. Why didn't you tell me you would faint from that transformation skill? It was hella troublesome bringing you here."

He winced.

"I think I pulled something…"

Naruto blearily smiled.

"It wasn't a… usual transformation. This was… different."

How the changes were not only exterior, minuscule ones. How muscle-mass, facial structure and cardiovascular ability was changed. Naruto couldn't pinpoint those things. He could only feel something was different.

Naruto closed his eyes and a lone tear slipped out.

"Seems like... Kusuri didn't mess up."

Shikamaru winced. He had asked Naruto to change his appearance before meeting with his family. He didn't want them to be able to link himself to hetaera in any possible way, no matter how small the chance that they realized it was. At first, they had both been astonished at the massive change. Now though, seeing the pain of realization on Naruto's face… had his egoistical need to keep himself out of his mothers' wrath put his friend in this pain?

Wait.

'Friend… since when?'

Naruto didn't open his eyes and tried to keep his breathing even. The air smelt wondrous… decaying leafs and fresh trees.

"Hey, Shika…"

"…Hm?" The Nara asked, preoccupied with his own thoughts.

"Say… that Asuma guy said we should remember her to make her happy… but I don't think that's right. Do you get what I mean?"

Shikamaru shook his head, not that Naruto could see it with his closed eyes. He probably didn't even consider an answer from the young Nara, as he continued on his own.

"I think what would make Kusuri… me… Tera, and everyone else the happiest… is if I used this seal. Used her present. That I treasure what she gave me and use it… Does that sound wrong?"

Shikamaru looked down at the blonde with a crooked, fond smile. The kid was grasping for reasons, and had found one.

'Jeez, Naruto. Do you even need me to tell you…?'

He shook his head ruefully.

"It sounds true, Naruto."

The other kid smiled.

"I'm glad…"

His tears finally ran free.

* * *

Naruto later arrived to Hetaera, alone. Shikamaru had wanted to join him, but choose not to after Naruto had asked him to not follow.

"Tira-sama… I am back."

He bowed his head. Tera sighed.

"What… have I told you, boy. My name is Tera." A weak smile graced her stony face. "Welcome back. Do you feel better?"

"Yes. It still hurts… but I have decided to honor Kusuri through using her gift."

Tera hesitated.

"The seal…?"

"It worked."

The paper shoji separating the room they were in and the one next to the kitchen was violently pulled to the side.

"What… are _you_ doing here?" Raku hissed venomously. Tera began to open her mouth in protest to Raku's tone, when Naruto raised a hand.

"Since this… is my home. Kusuri's home," he stated with just a slight waver in his voice.

"You _killed _her!"

"…Y-yes."

Raku stumble over her own rage in surprise.

"…_What?"_

"I know-!" Naruto began, squeezing his eyes shut. "That Kusuri wouldn't have died if I wasn't here, but-!" He opened teary blue eyes, meeting the enraged amber of Raku. "But now it is like it is!"

Tera smiled sadly behind her hand. It is like it is. What a wonderful argument. Too bad adults couldn't use it as well as a child.

Raku sneered at the blonde.

"It is like it is? Sure, I can accept that." Her sneer grew even more bitter, disgusted. "But accepting does not equal liking, brat. And moving on… forgetting… is hardly ever the right choice."

Tera knew where Raku was getting from. They all knew each other's pasts, pains and dreams… they could sympathize with each other. But now was not the time for that.

"But moving on, Raku, does not necessarily mean forgetting. And I don't think Naruto wants to forget."

The five-year old nodded seriously.

"I want Kusuri to live on… within me."

"Kusuri is gone, brat. Thanks to y-"

"I KNOW!" Naruto screamed at the woman, silencing her. "I… know." He took a deep breath. "But a great part of her is still alive… in this seal."

Raku's eyes first tightened to mere springs of black anger before his words registered.

"Y..you don't mean-"

"The seal Kusuri spent her whole life creating is inscribed on the boys body Raku," Tera proudly spoke in a tone befitting of the commander she had once been. "He is the incarnation… her crowning achievement as a human being. Her greatest success, that she sacrificed her life for…" Tera looked at the woman with a condescending glare, secretly relishing in the power she had. Right now, she was spinning the threads that would become Raku's future without effort. She knew Raku perfectly. She knew what words to use to bind the woman. "Can you despise that! Can you _taint _that!"

Raku fell down on her knees, staring at the blonde before her.

"Proof… prove it…" She mumbled. Raku had loved Kusuri more than anyone else. She was desperate for any trace of her that was left.

Tera hid a pleased smile behind her sleeve. She didn't doubt the boy was telling the truth. And now that it was Raku who had taken the initiative to see the evidence rather than someone else forcing it on her, she would be convinced.

Naruto nodded.

"I will faint after a short while though, and I'm already tired."

"No excuses Naruto. Prove it," Tera demanded. She couldn't have him sowing seeds of doubt in Raku. There could be no doubt.

Naruto nodded once more before closing his eyes in concentration. A whisper blew through the air, singing in a language neither present could understand.

Tera nearly shivered.

'This… is this chakra?"

Horribly advanced patterns of blue, red and green in clear, cold colors slowly spread over all Naruto's visible skin. The balance between the colors lasted for a moment, before fusing into muddy ink that covered his body completely. The mass of black then expanded, grew and solidified. First came feet in a delicate white color, then modest hips followed by slender waist.

That pale skin… those measurements.

"K..kusuri?" Raku shakily asked.

Closed eyelids opened, revealing cyan eyes filled to the brim with sadness.

"This is how I-I remember h-her," came Kusuri's voice in a tone foreign to the dead woman's body. Same voice… used differently.

Raku could only stare. Naruto's clothes had fallen of with the transformation to ink, and the body of her best friend… only true friend stood before her. Perfectly imitated. That tiny white spot next to her navel, even the shape of her hips… Either Naruto had photographic memory, or he must have…

'-considered her important enough to memorize her perfectly.' Raku knew with absolute certainty that no one except herself could come even close to this level of detail…or rather, had known. There was one other. One more who had loved Kusuri, apparently. And she had shunned him.

Tera herself was stunned by the transformation. She reached a hand out and touched the shoulder tentatively.

"B..oy..."

The structure didn't dissipate on touch. Tera sent a minuscule sliver of chakra – all she could afford to – into the body.

Naruto jolted at the sensation.

"It's… solid," Tera said to no one in particular in astonishment. Awe. And mad glee at the potential.

'Limitless…!'

Raku too reached out, and Naruto took her hand, helping her up.

"It is… perfect," Raku whispered hoarsely.

Naruto/Kusuri smiled bittersweetly.

"It's her legacy…"

A pang of pain. Kusuri had taught him that word when speaking of Konoha's history.

"How could it be anything else?"

Raku began crying with a distorted smile, snot running from both her nostrils. Her makeup became completely ruined and the pleasant smell of her lavender shampoo was completely blocked out. She couldn't care less about those values right now however.

"Y..Yeah! How could it be?"

She laughed, a mixture of sadness and overwhelming joy.

"Ah… Sorry, but I-"

The body turned black, sinking into itself and leaving a pale Naruto in it's place. Raku gently took the boy's body as collapsed on the spot. He had lost consciousness.

Raku continued, speaking, filled with joy and relief.

"How could it be anything but perfect…?"

* * *

Sarutobi watched through his crystal ball how Naruto made up with the others. There were many tears, hugs and tears once more, involved.

Hiruzen smiled, causing his old face to crinkle up.

'In only one year your life has changed this much… I'm relieved, Naruto.' His idea had been successful to a far greater extent he could have hoped for. While some sacrifices had been required – sadly – and the outcome was not the one he had sought… it had all turned out for the better.

Sarutobi produced a small nicked jimsonweed from one of his drawers, still carrying traces of the mokuton. A useful ability… more so than most succeeded to realize. The wizened man looked at the plant thoughtfully before snapping his fingers, causing the plant to disintegrate in face of the scorching heat. He sighed. The greatest loss in this affair had been the numerous scrolls Kusuri had kept her notes in. They had been destroyed along with her and her paranoia through vitality-dependant seals. He hadn't counted on it… it was a failure on his part.

He glanced at the crystal ball, seeing how Naruto turned a tiny bit taller, his hair grew out and his face became softer. Lots of arguing from the surrounding females.

As soon as he had given the order, it had been carried out expertly. The ANBU left no traces and secured the scrolls… only for them to disintegrate as the second part of the order was initiated.

Sarutobi sighed once more. He had taught his students far too well. Neither Tsunade, Jiraiya or Orochimaru had ever shared the secrets behind their greatest techniques with him. And before he could even attempt to force them, they were out of Konoha to only god knew where. Only Jiraiya kept contact somewhat… but it was more of a checkup to see what the "old monkey" was doing, he supposed. Kusuri, it seemed, had taken after them. Or rather Tsunade, but the same principle ruled anyways.

He shook his head. The loss of Tsunade's ultimate illusion technique was a grave one, but the situation wasn't unsalvageable. They might lack the theory, but if they could get the finished product…

Naruto pouted in the mirror. Apparently, he had become a girl.

…Well, then they could mass-produce the effects… an army of ninja capable of taking innumerable amounts of appearances… Konoha's position as the greatest military country would be etched in granite for centuries, as long as they secured the seal properly. Perhaps with a variant of the caged bird seal…

His thoughts were interrupted by his door being slammed open. So it was either Konohamaru, Asuma… a messenger of utmost importance-

"Old man, what's the meaning of this?" a deep voice demanded.

"Asuma… learn how to knock," Sarutobi chided his son.

The bearded man bristled.

"Don't play with me old man… why did you send _me_ there?"

Sarutobi looked surprised.

"Because it was a delicate matter. If it got known publicly that Naruto was there due to some other priests blabbing… I had to chose someone I could trust." He smiled at his son. "You."

Asuma only scoffed.

"First insulting my order, then praising me… I'm not a kid, Sarutobi. Why did you send me there? I saw the ANBU. A suicide, even if in the proximity of the container, hardly warrants the Hunter division of ANBU to come. And not of that high rank…"

Asuma let the following questions hang in the air.

Sarutobi sighed, for the third time in a short amount of time, reaching for his pipe. A small face graced his aged features.

"Truly, Asuma… you are a child no longer. I will tell you the truth. Close the doors, please."

Asuma, stumped by his fathers' acceptance readily followed the orders and locked the before turning around to face his father.

"Well?"

Sarutobi lit his pipe and took one breath before speaking.

"I suspect Danzo murdered the woman in an attempt to uncover a jutsu she have developed," he said, getting straight to the point. A point that didn't even exist, but would serve its purpose well.

Asuma showed no reaction.

"What jutsu? On what grounds?"

Information before thought… truly, a good trait in his son.

"_I_ cannot divulge the nature of the jutsu. As for the grounds, we have uncovered a spy from Ne in Hetaera. And I'm sure you know that Danzo seeks to increase his influence… what better way?"

Than to keep Konoha's most potent weapon in his hands.

Asuma gained a tired look.

"So you're telling me to investigate this? Without pay?" He shook his head. "No way old man. No way." Asuma had no problem reading between the lines, hearing what was emphasized and drawing conclusions. What he had a problem with was how his father used him repeatedly when he was a child. He was a control-freak… at least when it came to his own family.

Sarutobi smiled.

"Ah… who said without pay…?" His smile turned devious, and Asuma was struck with a vague sense of foreboding. The circular room suddenly felt very small, and the tobacco was nearly suffocating. It was as if he was completely in the old mans territory… and maybe he really was.

"I heard something interesting from Kakashi about your oath of celibacy being broken…"

'Dammnit Kakashi!' Asuma furiously though while trying to fight down a fierce blush. Really, no matter how much he distanced himself from his father, the fact that he _was_ his father remained. And it felt a wee bit uncomfortable speaking about … "that" with his dad.

"Y-yeah so?"

Hiruzen raised his arm in a welcoming gesture along with the thickness of tobacco decreasing.

"Why, my blessing… whoever the lucky one might be."

Asuma took a small, calming breath. This was huge. Father and son had separated on harsh terms, and his fathers blessing was something he thought lost. Kurenai was someone who valued tradition… it would be important for her.

For them both.

"Kurenai…" he mumbled. He felt like a child and not the grown man he was when he stood in front of his father.

Sarutobi feigned surprise as he prepared the next lure.

"Oh…? then it will be all the more important for you to keep some attention to Hetaera… Kurenai's sole living family is working there you know."

Of course he did not. Sarutobi only knew it because he enjoyed a practice of keeping check on every single inhibitor of Konohagakure. A tremendous skill few others in the world could come close to.

He doubted anyone could surpass him.

"Heh? Kurenai said she was the sole…" His words died out.

"Yes, there is a reason they do not speak about each other. If she hasn't told you on her own though, it is not my place to do so."

Asuma nodded.

"I'll accept the job. What are the details?"

Sarutobi rummaged through a pile of neat scrolls before finding the right one.

"Here," he said while extending the green-painted scroll. Asuma accepted it with a steady hand.

"…Thanks," Asuma forced out. The Hokage waved him of.

"I just combined work and pleasure. Take care, son."

The young Sarutobi closed the door behind himself, gently as opposed to what he used to do.

'Lets see… A guard for Naruto… something to make it harder for Danzo… A constant reminder to Tera… bettering my relationship with my son…and potentially a kinjutsu.'

Sarutobi clapped his hands together in the empty room.

Five birds with one stone.

Take that, age.

* * *

"And CHEERS for lil Tenzo-cwhan!" Yuugao hiccupped, slamming her hand down on the table, causing the drinks to rattle.

"Cheers," Kakashi agreed with a jovial smile.

"Ch - cough! - eers," a third voice joined in.

Tenzo smiled nervously and rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment.

"R-really guys, it was just a low-level suppression… it's nothing to throw a pa-"

"Nonsense nonsense… you defeated its first attempt to do something. Our Tenzo…" Kakashi sniffed. "I'm so proud."

"You are – cough – an example for us all," Hayate deadpanned. Yuugao looked at him sourly.

"Hayathe! Don't be bullyhn woody," she chided him with rosy cheeks and glazed eyes.

The sickly looking man ignored Yuugao in favor for determining just how much she had been drinking. Seeing the seven empty cups in front of her…

"Too much. No more drinking for you, Yuugao." It was no secret Yuugao was a light drinker, even if she had gone through the ANBU's mandatory toxic resistance training. She just couldn't handle liquor.

"Whu? Haya..-ayathe! Don't Bulleh!"

Hayate carefully ignored the purple-haired woman, leaning over the table towards Kakashi.

"How come she has seven cups next to her, even though we only ordered three rounds… Kakashi-sempai?"

The ANBU smiled brightly.

"Because I gave her my three. And she stole one of yours when you didn't look."

"Um… sempai, why _don't_ you drink? Cant you handle it well or…?" Tenzo tried to ask. Even though he admired his commander greatly, he didn't know all that much about the man. And he wished to know more. Seeing how Hayate shook his head at him though, he wished he hadn't asked.

"Ah, it's a bit embarrassing, but I'm worse than Yuugao when it comes to drinking." Kakashi's smile stayed on.

"Oh… ah, I see." Tenzo left it at that.

Kakashi continued to smile. He hadn't taken a single sip since he was eight. Seeing his father- a legend- crumble in floods of stinking alcohol, puke and tears before ending it all with suicide had proven quite the deterrent. The red eyes, sobbed pleas for help…

To him, his father had died long before his suicide, dragging a large part of Kakashi down with him.

Kakashi still smiled.

"Ohi.. Oy! What 'bout… … … N'ruto now then!" Yuugao slurred. She had been planning to stall for Naruto to enter the ninja academy, but she had found an interesting little girl. A girl so interesting she actually thought about giving up on her vague plan to become Naruto's sensei, some four-seven years in the future. But she had to be certain he was well first. Otherwise… no matter how much of a waste it was, she would have to let that bundle of tight potential go.

Tenzo was all too happy to change the subject.

"The situation is stable as far as I know it. The seal might have failed, but the dangers are all gone. He will continue his stay at Heta-"

A hand was clamped over his mouth.

"Now now, Tenzo. Even if "The Brimstone" is a pretty safe place, you never know. And that is classified information for… pretty much everyone." Kakashi smiled. "Don't let the alcohol and success get to your head, 'kay?"

'_Danger danger danger!_' Tenzo's mind screamed at him. He suddenly realized how easily Kakashi could kill him. He hadn't even been able to react before the hand was over his mouth.

"I think he understands, Hatake-san. But I will also advise you to keep your tongue where it is supposed to be." Hayate glanced at Yuugao. "Punishment isn't as far away as one might think…"

Tenzo swallowed. The hand was removed.

"I understand."

"Great!" Kakashi was still smiling. It was horribly unnerving. Completely unnatural, even. "I suggest another round then! Miss Ayame!"

The girl came skipping over to the table with a natural smile on her face.

"Yes, coming up," she cheerily accepted.

"Booze!" Yuugao whole-heartedly agreed with a face-splitting grin at the brunette, who smiled back with a small giggle.

Three tables away, a chuunin with white hair stood up and left, leaving a far too much charge on the table he had used along with a half-eaten sushi-roll.

He saw it. The boy. He had found it.

Kyuubi!

* * *

Mizuki's teeth gleamed as he placed a thin wire between his front teeth and pulled on the string. It was a walking treasure that had been lost for over a year. People grew anxious. People wanted to know.

People could pay much for information.

Even more for the body.

The young chuunin nearly laughed at the absurdity. The container, living with some hookers. No respectable people would enter there, and the privacy law kept ninja from entering… the container had been lucky.

Well, so had he… to be able to overhear the first letters of the hiding place was real lucky. Though there weren't many that would have been able to deduce the location from that amount of information. But Mizuki was a teacher, and knew every single house in Konoha, and most places history. It had been easy to find the location.

The wire, too, gleamed, reflecting the full-moon.

He would become rich! Richer beyond his dreams, as long as the death couldn't be traced to him…

Mizuki paused. Thinking about it, shouldn't security be high? Or was it just that stupid ANBU, who neglected his duties, who was the guard since a concentration of ninja drew attention…?

Yeah. That was probably it.

Mizuki rose up, readying the string. He would rush in, use the garrote, rush out. He could kill the bra..t l..at…e?

Mizuki's moment of glory was cut short as an arm covered in standard ANBU mesh quickly chopped down on his neck.

"Practically screaming bloodlust… its no wonder you never passed chuunin if this is the level of your ki control," Kakashi mumbled to the slumped body. Inside Hetaera a shadow moved away from the window. A watcher? Coincidence?

Kakashi blew a silent tone between his fingers, causing two ANBU to appear next to him. Signaling with his hands, he ordered them to take the chuunin to Ibiki. He himself would invest some more time in Hetaera when he was given time. So far, he had focused on outside threats.

Now, it was time for the inner ones.

Kakashi sighed and closed his eyes. He hoped his kage bunshin was enjoying itself back at "The Brimstone".

* * *

The woman Kakashi had seen had quickly moved away from the window.

'But not quick enough…' she mused as she scanned the perimeter through extending her senses. She was a 'Go there, hit that' kind of person. Had always been. Everyone knew it.

And that was what made her perfect, had Danzo told her. Her ability to control her chakra exceeded most jounins, and she was easily among the top ten of Konoha. Tera knew about her having great control, and suspected that she might have been a sensor in her past. But only Danzo knew she was an active one. And used her.

She dragged her hand through rough brown bangs, relishing in the texture. As always, using her skills made her much more sensitive to her surroundings. It was a curse and bliss combined.

The three men and the assailant suddenly disappeared, appearing a dozen or so meters away. The speed-technique shunshin showed its signature pattern of anchor and chain as small, flaring dots inside her mind. Fourteen seconds later, and they were out of her fine chakra net.

Well, it only stretched for one and a half kilometer anyways. It was expected.

'Though an assailant was unexpected…' True, more than a year had gone by without anyone managing to locate Naruto, so it was about time… but time had a way to lull you. Tomo had immediately woken up at the fluctuation of killing intent in her 'passive' radar, and prepared herself to dispose of the suspicious character. Which had proven unnecessary. Fatal for her, even. Someone with far too good eyesight had spotted her, she had felt that in her net. A sudden surprise… but one so small it could be compared to the sound a single drop of water made as it hit the ground. It was someone skilled, but the exper-

Something ripped at her thin net, traveling along it and unwinding it in the process. It was an attack at her net! But to be able to do that, they had to be-

'Another sensor? But how?'

Tomo cursed and cut the net, ten metes from the foreign chakra to reach her. She couldn't let her position to be revealed so soon! Damn it!

She would have to report to Danzo, and fast. Someone had caught her trail, and that someone was capable of deciding her perimeter, find the edges of her net and start a counter before she had gotten any info on him. With certainty a sensor. No one else could find the near particle-thin strands of chakra, they were invisible to the naked eye. It could be an Uchiha… but most likely not. The police-force generally avoided this part of Konoha when in the open, and there were few ones skilled enough to escape her senses.

Shrugging that matter aside, she feigned her surprise as Naruto entered the hallway. She had felt him coming dozens of meters away.

"Hiya Naruto-kun!" she greeted him cheerily.

"A-ah! Tomo-chan!" came the frightened yowl from the blond. Panting in exaggerated motions, he raised a hand in greeting. "Y' scared me."

"Hm?" She raised an eyebrow in unison with a smirk. "Should a ninja be that easily scared?"

The child stood up straighter. "A… ninja?" he asked perplexed.

Tomo looked at him in loss.

"Yeah. Ninja. Y'know everyone who does cool stuff? Us here at Hetaera?"

"…Ninja," Naruto repeated.

"…Yes?"

"…Ninja."

Tomo paused in disbelif.

"You… don't know?"

The boy shook his head. Tomo was dumbfounded.

"You mean… Tera… Minami… The Hokage… K-…she…you mean nobody's told you about ninja?"

'It can be true… really, its impossible! We live in a ninja village! Hell, some kids' first _word _is ninja!'

Still he shook his head.

"Nu-huh."

Okay. That was a major setback. How was the kid supposed to take the decision to become a ninja and protect the village if he didn't know what it was! She had assumed someone – anyone! – had told him. Danzo had too! But seeing his questioning eyes, she realized no one had. But it should have been a major part of his education from Kusuri – shit!

She smiled at him. "Let's go to my room. I'll tell ya 'bout them."

"M'kay."

Walking next to him, she noticed he had grown taller.

"Hey." He looked up at her. "Gained some height?"

The child smiled brightly, and without slowing down a step he dissolved into ink before filling out a large form.

"I can transform," Tera admitted in an mischievous voice with a face-splitting grin.

Tomo winced at the sight.

'That is… so wrong! And amazing, Danzo has to learn about this!'

The woman shrunk back into a boy and yawned.

"But the larger and more different I get, the more tired I become."

They reached Tomo's room. Same design as the rest of the rooms, but with far more interior uniqueness. There were vases, scrolls, drawings, candles and stick of slowly burning rosewood. A bit messy, but somehow messy in an orderly fashion. Tomo motioned for him to sit down on the spacious bed. She placed her hands on her hips, and drew a deep breath in preparation. Naruto had his whole body focused on her. Being taught by Kusuri, he had learnt to pay extraordinary attention when someone spoke.

"Ninja are…" Murderers. Saviors. Tools. It all depended on perspective. She just had to choose the one most likely t o make him positive to the concept. "…Protectors."

She readied the bat.

"Protectors…?" Naruto questioned.

The pitcher threw the ball.

"Yeah, protectors. People who give a real hard effort to be able to protect their land… and all the precious people inside."

It was an easy one.

"Precious… people?"

It would become a perfect hit.

"Yeah… like Kusuri."

And the ball sailed far, far up in the sky. Naruto's eyes widened impossibly large and gained a wet quality.

"W-what do you mean Tomo?"

Inwardly, Tomo sighed with relief. The kid practically placed the limes that she needed to say in her mouth. This was too easy.

"Ah, no Naruto-kun! I'm not accusing you or anything, if you thought that… but you remember how I told you that strength is all that matters?"

The boy, somewhat reassured, nodded. She smiled at him before beginning to speak with a reverent tone.

"Ninja 're the strongest. The ones with power. They're the on's who stop the people we love from dyin, they're the ones keeping everyone happy." She glanced at the boy. "Understanding what I'm say'n?"

Naruto hesitantly nodded.

"So.. If I become… a ninja… people will get happy?"

Great, great. But she had to douse the pink picture with some cold colors so that the boy wouldn't accuse her later on. She had to be a tad bit careful here.

"They'll live happily. But only those who know what'cha do will be thankful to _you_. 'N'd its painful for the ninjas. They carry the others pain… kinda like heroes."

Naruto's eyes lit up in recognition.

"Ah- I know about heroes! They were in a lot of Kusuri's stories… the Yondaime's was one, right? 'Cause he sealed the Kyuubi away?"

In his excitement, Naruto failed to notice the twitch that ran through Tomo's body a fraction of a second. She forced a smile.

"Ya. He was a hero… the greatest hero, 'n also the one who sacrificed the most. He gave his life, y'know?"

Naruto nodded seriously. The Yondaime sacrificed his life to seal away the evil monster, Kyuubi, so that everyone could be happy! And everyone loved him, and remembered him… what Tomo said, it all made sense!

"The more pain ya feel, the more ya get. The harder you try, the more will ya be rewarded. This is 'n great example. The Yondaime's is our greatest hero, but also gave his whole life." Truth with modifications, all of them. Sometimes, effort didn't matter. Sometimes, pain was just pain with nothing to gain. And there were far worse things than sacrificing ones body in the world of ninja. But he didn't need to hear that.

The boy locked his eyes with her. They were hopeful.

"So, if I had been a ninja… I could have protected Kusuri?"

'Oh God,' Tomo thought as she saw the tense boy, 'forgive me for small lies.'

"You might have."

'Sorry kid… nothing you could have done would have changed anything.' Danzo had told her some interesting information about the mokuton's ability to perfectly imitate nature's plants, be they beautiful, or poisonous. It had just been a matter of administration. Tomo gnashed her teeth. If she ever had the chance, she would fucking _kill_ Sarutobi, the bastard…

She hid her anger.

"But then ya'd have to work extremely hard… it'll be painful," she warned him.

A determined pair of blue eyes met hers.

"If I can protect you, it will be really worth it."

This time, Tomo's smile was completely honest. A sad, loving smile. The boy was so easy it tore at her very being to manipulate him. He would never achieve true happiness as a ninja… it was impossible. She knew Minami shared her conviction on that one with fervor… not that they ever spoke about it.

Tomo reached down and hugged the kid.

"…Sorry," she breathed into his blonde hair. It smelt like an odd mix of dry earth, sakura incense and lavender shampoo. The brand Kusuri had used, though it didn't seem he was the one who had used it… rather someone close to him.

"Huh?" Naruto wondered. "For what?"

She was happy that Naruto didn't have her enhanced senses. Then he would have smelt her tears.

"For blaming you at first," she whispered. That, too, was a lie. She had never blamed him. But she would do anything for Konoha, and having the boy close to her was essential for that.

He hugged her back. Hard.

"It's okay."

* * *

A great, heavy rain was slamming down on buildings of his city.

As always.

"Isn't it depressing?"

He turned around to face the pale woman. Perhaps it was. Everything was a gray, dull color, and all sound was drowned out. It was as if they lived in small bubbles of reality, separated by barriers of nature.

Perhaps it was.

"It doesn't matter."

The woman nodded with no more attempt to start a conversation. She was accustomed to speaking with him, and knew when there was nothing more to say. He had never enjoyed useless words, as opposed to her. But she had adapted… for his sake. Suddenly the rain twisted, bent around itself. Out of thin air a man clad in dark garbs materialized with a casual flair.

"Have you found him yet?" the stoic figure next to her asked immediately.

A deep chuckle resounded from the black-clothed man.

"Always so direct, Pein… but no, I have not. I was thinking of dispatching Orochimaru."

Crimson met a dead gray. It wasn't as much a battle for power as two equally cold statements.

I'm stronger than you.

"Take him. But know that it is up to _me_ to dispatch _my_ soldiers." Pein ignored the sensation of life being eaten from his body by the multiple dark bars of metal in his body as he spoke. While he had become used enough to not even think about it in general life, the other man made him conscious of his problems. The few ones he had, that is.

"Sure, sure…" came to bemused reply before he continued. "By the way, I have seen a change in the formation and focus of the main members… are you shifting your goal?"

Pein looked at him sharply.

'You already knew… Madara?'

"Yes," Madara answered with dark amusement. "I know pretty much all…" He gazed out over his city. So technologically advanced, with buildings reaching for the skies, artificial electric in abundance… yet the country was falling. Falling fast "...There is to know.".

"What does he mean, Pein," Konan broke in with an unusual amount of emotion. It nearly rose a tenth of an octave, once. Pein turned to face her. As detached as he might be, he still held some feelings for the woman. She would learn what only he knew, and Madara had guessed. As soon as he had spread some misinformation.

"… Through Orochimaru, who was favored by his teacher, I have learnt of some atrocious secretes dwelling in Konoha…" Pein paused while Madara gained a wicked gleam in his one visible eye.

'Oh… Sarutobi, what a blabber you are… who would have thought,' the Uchiha thought to himself.

Pein paid rapt notice to the man without visibly changing focus. That confirmed some of his suspicions.

"Their village itself is an abomination. It has to be erased for even the possibility of peace." He glanced at her. "Do you understand?"

Konan met his gaze evenly.

"Not fully."

He nodded at her. An honest answer. As expected. He glanced at Madara

Get away.

"Seems like I'm an annoyance…" Madara chuckled before bending space itself, disappearing and leaving the two ninja alone, just as sudden as he had arrived. Pein waited a minute before speaking again. Madara was a sneaky character and couldn't be trusted. He had to be sure the man was gone before he could give Konan proper information.

"I have a mission for you Konan. A long one." Konan didn't hesitate.

"What are the contents?"

Pein looked at her long and carefully. It would be even lonelier without the woman by his side.

"I need you to _salvage_ the Jinchuuriki. With the least amount force possible."

The female hesitated. She heard the emphasis on salvage. No longer capture, acquire… but salvage?

"Why…?"

Pein actually hesitated before speaking.

"Keeping the Gedō Mazō in this dimension is demanding…"

Another piece of life was whittled away by the black rods

Konan understood that her childhood friend would speak no more about the issue, so she bowed her head.

"Time? Place? Duration? Regulations? Specifications?"

This time, he did not hesitate. Before had been a momentary lapse, unworthy of him.

"This week. Konoha's container. No violence, infiltrate with care. Befriend him, and when he is ready… take him away."

_Salvage… befriend_?

"Is that all?"

"Yes. I leave the rest to you. Approach him however you want, manipulate him and his surroundings however you want – as long as you succeed."

Konan nodded once before turning around, walking away. To be honest, she hadn't expected anything of the like. "Become his friend". What an oddity. She could hardly guess what his aims were.

A secret smile graced her painted lips.

'Perhaps a bit of the old Nagato is showing through…'

She could only hope. That was the man she had devoted herself to… not this cold man, even if her loyalty remained. Absolutely.

"Bye… Nagato."

The man didn't answer. His whole mind was focused on the rainy city before him. Konan's skin slowly fell away until she had become a mass of wildly spinning papers. A path opened in the rain, and she took off.

Pein watched her disappear into the distance. When he could se her no longer, he instead let a few drops of water hit her so that he knew where she was. He had known she wouldn't stall. She never did. Him giving her a week… he didn't know why.

She would leave directly anyways.

A few hours later, she was out of his border. His territory. His realm.

"Soon…" he breathed out, "I can relax."

And closed his eyes.

* * *

Joanna's notes:  
Well, here's the real update... I thought it was strange that I had managed to achieve the exact same wordcount on both chap four and five...

And now, finally, the base is sturdy enough to allow a leap in time...

_Glossary_

Akasen: Red light district.

Shiroi: White.

Furea: Flare


End file.
